Partial results from Chile’s presidential election indicate that leftist former labour minister Jeannette Jara and far-right politician Jose Antonio Kast are headed for a runoff vote in December.

With 52.39 percent of ballots tallied on Sunday evening, Jara — a 51-year-old communist candidate representing an eight-party coalition — led with 26.58 percent, followed by Kast on 24.32 percent, according to electoral authority Servel.

The next-closest contender, ultra-right legislator Johannes Kaiser, conceded defeat.

Campaigning was overshadowed by growing public anxiety over surging murders, kidnappings and extortion in what has long been one of Latin America’s safest countries.

Rising crime has been widely attributed to foreign criminal groups, coinciding with a doubling of Chile’s migra

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