Jeannette Jara, presidential candidate of the ruling leftist-coalition and member of the Communist Party, gestures as she arrives to vote during the general election, in Santiago, Chile November 16, 2025. REUTERS/Pablo Sanhueza

SANTIAGO (Reuters) -Governing leftist coalition and Communist Party candidate Jeannette Jara is leading Chile's presidential race, an early count from electoral service Servel showed on Sunday, with 1.6% of ballots tallied.

Jara is leading with 31.3% of the votes, trailed by far-right candidate Jose Antonio Kast, who is making his third bid for the presidency, with 23.3% of votes.

Unless a candidate wins more than 50% of the vote, the top two candidates will proceed to a runoff on December 14.

(Reporting by Chile Newsroom, Editing by Daina Beth Solomon and Christian Plumb)