Chile between democracy and authoritarianism – a fateful choice

Presidential and parliamentary elections will be held in Chile on 16 November 2025. A run-off election would take place in December. In this „election of destiny“, negationism and the culture of remembrance, fake news, bots and freedom of the press, democracy and authoritarianism, social reforms and extreme neoliberalism will face each other.

The right and extreme right are putting forward three presidential candidates, a kind of „German division“ in Chilean politics. All three candidates, Evelyn Matthei, José Antonio Kast and Johannes Kaiser, are admirers of the Chilean military dictatorship. They are second and third generation German citizens. Their family histories are deeply rooted in both the National Socialist era and the period of military dictatorship.

Against their political line, a broad alliance of democrats, Christian democrats, socialists, social democrats, liberals, greens and social movements formed the Unidad por Chile. This alliance put together a unified parliamentary list and elected Jeannette Jara, former Labour Minister in the Boric government and member of the Chilean Communist Party, as its presidential candidate.

Victor Cobs (environmental scientist; Spatial Modelling Lab (RAM), Department of Spatial Planning, TU Dortmund) and Pedro Crovetto (social, economic and political scientist, Bochum) will speak about the upcoming fateful election and the work of Unidad por Chile in NRW.

An event organised by the Fritz Bauer Forum