Iran Press/America: Chile on Sunday opened the most uncertain presidential ballot since the return to democracy in 1990, in which Chileans chose between leftist deputy Gabriel Boric and right-wing politician Jose Antonio Kast, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Kast, leader of the far-right Republican Party and presidential candidate of the Christian Social Front, voted Sunday morning in the rural municipality of Paine, located an hour drive from downtown Santiago.
Kast, who won the first round of the presidential election with 27.9 percent of the vote and a little more than 146,000 ballots of difference, said these elections "will be narrow," with a difference of fewer than 50,000 votes between candidates.
Boric, of the left-wing coalition Approve Dignity, received 25.8 percent of the vote in the last elections and he voted in the southern city of Punta Arenas, which he represents as a deputy of the lower house.
President Sebastian Pinera also urged citizens to vote after casting his ballot in Las Condes in the captial.
"We hope to have a democratic, transparent, clean electoral event, honoring our beautiful republican tradition," said Pinera, whose term will end on March 11, 2022.
The Ministry of Health guaranteed a calm and safe election, due to the high vaccination rate that has led to fewer cases as well as the biosafety measures in place at polling stations.
For this election, 14,959,956 people are eligible to vote, while 71,018 people are registered abroad, for a total of 15,030,974 voters.
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