The victory of Jeannette Jara in the primaries should not be seen as that of a single party, but as an opportunity to contest the presidency in November.
EDITORIAL ARTICLE (El Pais). The victory of the Communist Party candidate, former minister Jeannette Jara—backed by the entire ruling coalition—in the Chilean left’s primaries, opens a key chapter for that ideological sphere in the South American country, which currently holds power with Gabriel Boric at the helm. This is not only because it puts a face to a progressive political offer in a landscape dominated by the advance of the right, but because it obliges them to articulate a project that appeals beyond their own ranks and has a real chance of making it to the second round in the presidential elections on the 16th of November. Jara arrives with a solid track record, marked by her time in Boric’s executive as Minister of Labour and by long-standing militancy. But her greatest challenge lies not in her credentials, but in the ability to build a candidacy that overcomes the distrust of moderate sectors, mobilises the disenchanted, and translates the idea of unity into something more than just a slogan.
In recent decades, a good part of the setbacks for the Chilean left have come from its tendency to divide at decisive moments. Fragmentation and internal competition have facilitated the rise of figures like the far-right José Antonio Kast, who now appears to have a serious chance of winning the presidency. With an electorate tired of broken promises and a public agenda dominated by insecurity and political disaffection, the risk of an ultra-conservative shift is real.
Therefore, Jara’s candidacy should not be seen as a bet by one faction, but as an opportunity for the entire left to once again contest the future of the country. This task requires generosity, programmatic clarity, and a shared understanding of what is at stake. adversaries must not emerge from within their own coalition or from the ideological nuances of their allies. That political rival already exists and is a far right that proposes rolling back social rights, historical memory, and democratic coexistence.
Jara has said that it is not enough to brandish the word unity, but that it must be built with deeds, without maximalism. This path requires reconciling different worlds and representing diverse sensibilities. But it also requires a strategy that speaks not only to the converted, but to a broad citizenry that needs certainties and solutions, not slogans. A project, in short, that reaches beyond the party faithful and its sympathisers, who are insufficient to achieve a second term for a progressive government.
The advance of the far right in Chile, but also in the rest of the world, is not inevitable. But stopping it requires a left that takes on this historical moment with responsibility, which understands that to win is not only to resist, but also to persuade. Jeannette Jara’s candidacy could be that meeting point if it manages to avoid sectarianism, open itself up to the country, and present itself as a real option of government for everyone.
Editorial Remarks: The article in El País (which we publish on this page) is surprising because, despite being about the left, it takes a positive stance on Jeannette Jara’s presidential candidacy in Chile. The editorial acknowledges that Jara ‘has a solid track record’ as Minister of Labour in the current Boric government. Published in July, its scepticism about whether Jara’s candidacy would achieve unity across the left has been largely overcome with the firm support of 12 parties, including the Christian Democrats, for her candidacy. The same goes for the preconditions that such unity requires, namely ‘generosity, programmatic clarity and a shared understanding of what is at stake.’ Jeannette has exhibited these qualities in abundance. The editorial is right when it points out that the main danger is the far-right candidate, José Antonio Kast, who ‘proposes setbacks in social rights, historical memory and democratic coexistence.’ Exactly! That is why, on 16 November, we must vote for Jeannette Jara!