"Presidential candidate for Chile’s Republican Party, Jose Antonio Kast, is currently leading the vote with 59.16%, while his opponent Jeannette Jara of the Unidad por Chile coalition is trailing on 40.84%, according to preliminary data announced by the country’s electoral authority. President of the Board of Directors of the Electoral Service of Chile, Pamela Figueroa Rubio, announced the current tallies in a message to the country, following the completion of vote counting at 57.44% of polling stations across the nation. "The preliminary results are as follows: Two. Jeannette Jara Roman: 2,880,994 votes, equivalent to 40.84%. Five. Jose Antonio Kast Rist: 4,172,631 votes, equivalent to 59.16%. Regarding the total vote count, 440,555 null votes were recorded, representing 5.81%, and 91,280 blank votes, representing 1.20%. This results in a total of 7,585,460 votes cast", she said. This is the third time that Jose Antonio Kast has run for presidency. He first ran in 2017 as an independent candidate, after leaving the Independent Democratic Union, and gathered around 8% of the vote. In 2021, he secured 44% of votes in the first round, before being defeated in the final runoff by his opponent Gabriel Boric, Chile’s incumbent president. The official results will be published in detail in the coming days, including breakdowns by regions and municipalities, to ensure full transparency of the process."