Analysis
Boric’s compromises lead to first Communist Party presidential candidate in Chilean history
Born in a working-class Santiago neighborhood and joining the party at fourteen, Jeannette Jara has embraced a more heterodox, less dogmatic interpretation of communism but her time as Labor Minister has led to major reforms.
For the first time in Chile’s history, a member of the Communist Party will carry the banner of all progressive forces in the presidential election scheduled for Sunday, November 16: Jeannette Jara – sadly no relation to the unforgettable Víctor Jara – swept the Chilean left’s internal primary with sixty percent of the vote, beating the Social Democrat Carolina Tohá, viewed by many as the favorite, which finished second with 28%, as well as Gonzalo Winter of President Gabriel Boric’s Frente Amplio and Greens representative Jaime Mulet.
Sunday’s primary was low-key: the popularity crisis of the Boric government – which in 2021 raised extraordinary hopes only to repeat the disappointing record of the old, moderate Concertación while also adopting many of the security policies long dear to the right – depressed turnout, at roughly one million participants versus 1.7 million in 2021.
It was precisely as a reaction to President Boric’s surrender to the establishment that 51-year-old Jara emerged onto the scene. She is the first Communist Party activist to serve as Minister of Labor and Social Security since the return of democracy to the country (she resigned in April to run in the primary). The last communist to head that ministry was Jorge Godoy Godoy in March 1973 under President Salvador Allende.
Born in a working-class Santiago neighborhood and joining the party at fourteen, Jeannette Jara has embraced a more heterodox, less dogmatic interpretation of communism; at the same time, as labor minister she added her name to some of the Boric administration’s flagship achievements, starting with the reduction of the work week to 40 hours in April 2023 and an increase in the minimum wage.
“I urge you to hold on to each other and not let go, so we can face Chile's far right with the broadest possible front, politically and socially, and stop it. That is our task ahead,” the former minister said in her first speech after winning the primary.
That is by no means an easy task, as she herself conceded: “We are facing a scenario in which far-right populism has grown. They believe the problems they themselves created can be solved simply by speaking louder.”
There are three candidates on the right that are indeed “speaking louder,” especially on immigration and crime: Evelyn Matthei, José Antonio Kast – the previous right-wing standard-bearer against Boric in 2021 – and libertarian far-right figure Johannes Kaiser.
At this point, polls show both Matthei and Kast handily defeating Jara in a potential runoff – unless they manage first to knock the communist candidate out of the runoff and end up waging a fratricidal battle.
Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/effetto-boric-la-comunista-jara-vince-le-primarie-del-fronte-progressista-in-cile on 2025-07-01