Chile is set to hold a crunch presidential showdown next month which will pit leftist candidate Jeannette Jara against Republican contender Jose Antonio Kas, after neither secured more than 50 percent of the vote in Sunday's general election.
Preliminary results from Chile's Electoral Service (Servel) on Sunday evening showed that with over 77 percent of ballots counted, Jara led the way with 26.69 percent of the vote, followed closely by Kast on 24.15 percent.
Under Chilean law, the two frontrunners will now go into a run-off since no candidate obtained over half of the votes in the first round of the election, with Dec. 14 now being set as the crucial date for the second round.
In a televised speech, current Chilean President Gabriel Boric congratulated Jara and Kast and said he's confident that dialog, respect and affection for Chile will come first over any differences between the two leading candidates who are vying to secure a four-year term.
In the capital Santiago, Chilean residents who were casting their ballots in Sunday's first round shared their views on the most pressing issues a new president must face.
"Security is the biggest issue. We are in a bad moment here in the sense that we were seeing a lot of thefts. Yesterday, they even stole my mobile phone in the street," said a voter.
"The most important reason for me to come and vote today is to safeguard women's rights and social rights, which we have fought to protect across different governments," said another.
Chile to hold presidential runoff election
Voting for the election of the eighth-term Legislative Council (LegCo) of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) concluded on Sunday night.
Voting for the election began at 07:30 a.m. local time on Sunday. More than 600 polling stations were opened across Hong Kong, serving approximately 4.13 million registered voters.
Long queues had already formed outside multiple polling stations across Hong Kong before the polls opened. At polling station entrances, staff and volunteers attentively assisted voters with the procedures. Some voters posed for a photo holding a thank-you card given by staff after casting their ballot.
"As a Hong Kong citizen, I think it's my responsibility to vote, and I don't want to give up my rights. That's why I come here to support," a voter said.
"We actually flew in from Thailand. Learning today is a special day to vote, we actually canceled all our appointments and canceled everything, and we flew in with the whole family just to be part of Hong Kong and to vote, and to cast our vote and be part of the community," said another voter.
HKSAR Chief Executive John Lee cast his ballot at around 08:30 a.m. at Raimondi College on Robinson Road. He said that the LegCo election is of great importance to Hong Kong's overall development and future reforms, and it also represents the expectations of Hong Kong society.
A number of voters said they look forward to the new term of the Legislative Council taking greater responsibility in advancing Hong Kong's economy, society, and public welfare.
"I think an area of focus I'd like to see is, one is the economy, and secondly is youth mobility and youth policies. I think youth are the future, and it's very important to get unity within the youth and also give us hope, right? The youth in general -- what can we do to, for us as youth, to partake in civil society and to show our responsibility, but also from the government, like, what kind of policy that can help us do that as well," said a young voter.
"I hope that there will be more fair education in the sense that even people from the poor family, they can actually receive good education in good schools," another voter said.
The new term of LegCo will be composed of 90 members, including 40 elected by the Election Committee, 30 elected by functional constituencies, and 20 elected by geographical constituencies through direct elections.
The eighth-term LegCo of the HKSAR will commence its four-year term on Jan 1, 2026.
Voting for 8th-term HKSAR LegCo election concludes
