International

Insecurity and corruption will take the interest in the campaign for the local elections in Chile

Chileans will elect 345 mayors and 16 regional governors in a month in elections considered a thermometer of the 2025 presidential elections and marked by the increase in crime and by one of the largest cases of corruption in the recent history of Chile, which splashes the country’s elite.

The campaign began on August 28, but the period for electoral propaganda began this Friday and the streets and squares were filled with posters and posters with the faces of the candidates from the early morning.

As in 2021, the elections will be held in two days (October 26 and 27), but unlike then, these will be the first municipal and regional elections held with the new compulsory voting system, re-established in 2022 after 10 years of voluntary participation.

“Chile faces these elections in a climate of distrust in the system. The parties have had difficulties facing the most pressing problems of citizenship, and the distance with it only grows. It is not surprising that independent candidates have grown,” Rodrigo Pérez de Arce, a researcher at the Faro Center of the University of Development (UDD), told EFE.

United official party and fragmented opposition

The broad and diverse coalition that governs Chile, made up of President Gabriel Boric’s Broad Front, the Communist Party and the center-left forces, will run together with the municipal ones.

He will do it together with the Christian Democracy, which is not part of the Executive, but is its ally in many votes.

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In the regionals they did not manage to reach agreements, which could be an impediment to revalidating the broad triumph of 2021, when the left and the center took over all the regions, except the southern Araucanía, governed by the liberal Luciano Rivas.

“The left will have to maneuver with the low popularity of the Government, especially in the field of management and security. At least, they should aim to retain important municipalities for them, such as Valparaíso, Ñuñoa, Maipú or Santiago. Otherwise, I think there will be long faces in that coalition,” Pérez de Arce said.

The fragmentation and conflict on the right is total both in municipal and regional: the forces of the traditional wing grouped in Chile Vamos (National Renewal, UDI and Evópoli) failed to agree with either the ultra-right (Republican Party and Social Christian Party) or with the People’s Party.

For former deputy and electoral expert Pepe Auth, the atomization “is motivated, more than in the aspiration to govern regions, in the need to position leadership for the parliamentary elections of 2025.”

“The right is not going to do well because it does not present itself in a cohesive way and is not acting proactively. Probably the sector that benefits from all this division is the Republican Party,” Octavio Avendaño, an academic at the University of Chile, told EFE.

Insecurity and corruption in Chile

The security crisis that Chile has been experiencing for some time due to the arrival of transnational organized crime is one of the star issues of the campaign and, according to experts, could harm the official candidates.

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The feeling of insecurity continues to grow and crime has become the greatest citizen concern.

“In the ruling party there is low mood, we are in the last stretch of the mandate, there is conviction that not as many changes can be made as we thought and the fight against crime has taken away all the energy from the Government,” she told Jeanne Simone, of the Network of Political Scientists and the University of Concepción.

The country is also shocked by the so-called “Audios Case”, a mega plot of corruption and influence peddling in the elite, which has even splashed up to the Supreme Court and of which all its edges are not yet known.

The case especially affects the traditional right, since its protagonist, lawyer Luis Hermosilla, was an advisor to the Ministry of the Interior when it was led by the ultra-conservative Andrés Chadwick during the second government of his cousin, former president Sebastián Piñera (2018-2022).

“Faced with a government as weakened as that of Boric, the right has failed to channel citizen discontent. He has not been able to carry out an alternative agenda to the Government’s agenda, which is very confusing, and now the Audios Case has erupted,” Avendaño stressed to EFE.

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International

U.S. Senate Rejects Budget, Bringing Government Closer to Shutdown Amid DHS Dispute

The U.S. Senate voted on Thursday against a budget proposal in a move aimed at pressuring changes at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), following the killing of two civilians during a deployment of immigration agents in Minneapolis.

All Senate Democrats and seven Republican lawmakers voted against the bill, which requires 60 votes to advance, pushing the country closer to a partial government shutdown that would cut funding for several agencies, including the Pentagon and the Department of Health.

The rejection came as Senate leaders and the White House continue negotiations on a separate funding package for DHS that would allow reforms to the agency. Proposed measures include banning Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from wearing face coverings and requiring them to use body-worn cameras during operations.

The vote took place just hours after President Donald Trump said he was “close” to reaching an agreement with Democrats and did not believe the federal government would face another shutdown, following last year’s record stoppage.

“I don’t think the Democrats want a shutdown either, so we’ll work in a bipartisan way to avoid it. Hopefully, there will be no government shutdown. We’re working on that right now,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting at the White House.

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International

Trump Says Putin Agreed to One-Week Halt in Attacks on Ukraine Amid Extreme Cold

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he secured a commitment from Russian President Vladimir Putinto halt attacks against Ukraine for one week, citing extreme weather conditions affecting the region.

“Because of the extreme cold (…) I personally asked Putin not to attack Kyiv or other cities and towns for a week. And he agreed. He was very pleasant,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting broadcast by the White House.

Trump acknowledged that several advisers had questioned the decision to make the call.
“A lot of people told me not to waste the call because they wouldn’t agree. And he accepted. And we’re very happy they did, because they don’t need missiles hitting their towns and cities,” the president said.

According to Trump, Ukrainian authorities reacted with surprise to the announcement but welcomed the possibility of a temporary ceasefire.
“It’s extraordinarily cold, record cold (…) They say they’ve never experienced cold like this,” he added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later commented on the announcement, expressing hope that the agreement would be honored.

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International

Storm Kristin Kills Five in Portugal, Leaves Nearly 500,000 Without Power

Storm Kristin, which battered Portugal with heavy rain and strong winds early Wednesday, has left at least five people dead, while nearly half a million residents remained without electricity as of Thursday, according to updated figures from authorities.

The revised death toll was confirmed to AFP by a spokesperson for the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANPEC). On Wednesday, the agency had reported four fatalities.

Meanwhile, E-Redes, the country’s electricity distribution network operator, said that around 450,000 customers were still without power, particularly in central Portugal.

Emergency services responded to approximately 1,500 incidents between midnight and 8:00 a.m. local time on Wednesday, as the storm caused widespread disruptions.

The Portuguese government described Kristin as an “extreme weather event” that inflicted significant damage across several regions of the country. At the height of the storm, as many as 850,000 households and institutions lost electricity during the early hours of Wednesday.

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Several municipalities ordered the closure of schools, many of which remained shut on Thursday due to ongoing adverse conditions.

Ricardo Costa, regional deputy commander of the Leiria Fire Brigade, said residents continue to seek assistance as rainfall persists.
“Even though the rain is not extremely intense, it is causing extensive damage to homes,” he noted.

In Figueira da Foz, a coastal city in central Portugal, strong winds toppled a giant Ferris wheel, underscoring the severity of the storm.