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Washington Post
30-06-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Chilean communist scores surprise win in primary vote as battle with far-right looms
SANTIAGO, Chile — Chilean Communist Jeannette Jara, the country's former labor minister, won the primary election for left-wing parties Sunday with surprising ease, beating out a more moderate rival to clinch over 60% of the vote. The decisive upset makes Jara, 51, the candidate representing Chile's beleaguered incumbent government in November elections, set to face off against center-right and far-right contenders who have surged in the polls.
Associated Press
30-06-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Chilean communist scores surprise win in primary vote as battle with far-right looms
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chilean Communist Jeannette Jara, the country's former labor minister, won the primary election for left-wing parties Sunday with surprising ease, beating out a more moderate rival to clinch over 60% of the vote. The decisive upset makes Jara, 51, the candidate representing Chile's beleaguered incumbent government in November elections, set to face off against center-right and far-right contenders who have surged in the polls. Because of term limits, the current leftist president, Gabriel Boric, 39, cannot run for a second consecutive term. Jara, a lawyer and member of Chile's Communist Party who was Boric's labor minister before resigning to run for president, secured 60.5% of the vote. The runner-up who had been considered a favorite — former Interior Minister Carolina Toha from the traditional Democratic Socialist party — took 27.7%. 'Today begins a new path that we will walk together, with the conviction to build a fairer and more democratic Chile,' Jara wrote on social media. 'In the face of the threat from the far-right, we respond with unity, dialogue and hope.' After Boric's 2022 election, voting was made compulsory, adding unpredictability to this year's race. Preliminary turnout figures from electoral authorities showed that turnout was much lower than expected, with just 1.4 million people casting ballots. Chile has some 15.4 million eligible voters. Although Jara's landslide win represents the rise of hard-liners within Boric's coalition, analysts have described Jara as less dogmatic and more diplomatic than some of her Communist peers. As labor minister, she earned praise for a program that increased minimum wage and reduced the working week to 40 hours. She has earned comparisons to Michelle Bachelet, Chile's former center-left president and an icon of female empowerment who governed 2006 to 2010 and again from 2014 to 2018. Paying tribute to Bachelet in her victory speech, she said: 'She was the one who showed us the path that nothing is impossible.' But Jara faces a tough climb to the top job. Recent opinion polls show the left-wing government declining in popularity at a moment of sluggish economic growth and rising fears over organized crime and migration in what has long been regarded as one of the region's most stable and prosperous democracies. Those hot-button issues have helped mobilize support for Chile's right-wing candidates, particularly ultraconservative lawyer and former lawmaker Jose Antonio Kast, and set the stage for a deeply polarized election. Another favorite on the right is Evelyn Matthei, a former minister of labor whose business friendly policy proposals have charmed investors. Chileans will go to the polls Nov. 16 to elect a president for the 2026-2030 term.
Washington Post
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Colombian court halts investigation into presidential campaign funds
BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombia's Constitutional Court on Thursday stopped an electoral body from investigating accusations of illicit campaign financing and unreported spending by President Gustavo Petro , delivering a legal victory to the beleaguered left-wing leader. The court ruled that only Congress can investigate alleged irregularities in the financing of Petro's 2022 campaign. Petro has denied any financial impropriety.
Associated Press
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Colombian court halts investigation into presidential campaign funds
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia's Constitutional Court on Thursday stopped an electoral body from investigating accusations of illicit campaign financing and unreported spending by President Gustavo Petro, delivering a legal victory to the beleaguered left-wing leader. The court ruled that only Congress can investigate alleged irregularities in the financing of Petro's 2022 campaign. Petro has denied any financial impropriety. The ruling scraps a probe by the National Electoral Council into whether Petro's campaign exceeded fundraising limits by about $1.2 million and whether it accepted funds from labor organizations, which is banned by Colombian law. The council is an administrative body that supervises the electoral process and oversees campaign financing. It can also impose administrative sanctions, such as hefty fines against campaign staffers. The court ordered the electoral council to refer its investigation to Colombia's House of Representatives. It's unclear whether lawmakers will advance the case. Although Petro often clashes with Congress, lawmakers have never removed a Colombian president from office, even in the face of intense public pressure when investigators in 1996 demonstrated then-President Ernesto Samper's ties to drug cartel financing. Petro fiercely criticized the electoral council as politically motivated, opening another front in his battles against the country's courts, which have overturned some of his key decrees and appointments. The officials on the electoral council planned to examine campaign contributions by unions of public school teachers and oil workers, among others, citing a dozen financial transactions Petro's campaign had allegedly failed to report. On Thursday, Petro applauded the court's decision. 'Well done to the Constitutional Court,' he posted on social media platform X. This was just the latest in a swirl of scandals over the financing of Petro's campaign. The Attorney General's office has also been investigating Petro's son Nicolás over allegations that the campaign took funds from criminal sources, including a notorious former drug trafficker.
Reuters
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Colombia's Petro signs decree to hold labor reform referendum
BOGOTA, June 11 (Reuters) - Colombia's leftist President Gustavo Petro on Wednesday signed a decree to hold a public referendum vote on a labor reform. The referendum proposal seeks to limit the working day, increase the surcharge for Sunday and holiday work from 75% to 100% and require social security payments for delivery app drivers. "If the law comes out just as the Senate says, with no imposition, then there would be a repeal of the decree," Interior Minister Armando Benedetti told reporters.
