• Chile: Centre-right parties gain voters one year before Presidential election

On Sunday, October 27th, elections of regional governors, regional councilors, mayors, and councilors were held at the national level. When looking to next year’s Presidential elections, the results of the election of councilors would be the most useful to predict some trends according to experts. In this regard, chart 1 shows a summary of the percentage of votes obtained by the large political coalitions in this election compared to the results obtained in 2021 and 2016. 

Chart 1: Chile Elections Recap

It is worth remembering that the social unrest of October 2019 generated large changes in political preferences in the elections that followed it, so we find it interesting to analyze the period before and after that episode. It is interesting to note that prior to the 2019 social unrest (2016 elections), the percentage of votes obtained by the political extremes (far-left and far-right) were minimal, while the left and moderate-right parties obtained the largest number of votes.

After the social unrest episode (2021 elections), the extreme-left and moderate-left significantly increased their share of the vote, to the detriment of right-wing parties, which lost citizen support.

What is observed in the 2024 elections is a weakening of the moderate-left and also of the moderate-right, together with a resurgence of the far-left and the emergence of the far-right (Partido Republicano), which had already been observed in the election of the Constitutional Council in 2023 led by the far-right. In addition, the political centre regained citizen support, albeit in a very incipient form. Overall, the 2024 elections seem to show a movement of voters towards the center-right from a long-term perspective, which makes a center-right candidacy for the next Presidential election in 2025 even stronger.

—Aníbal Alarcón