Jeannette Jara, a former labour minister under President Gabriel Boric and longstanding member of Chile’s Communist Party, secured the ruling coalition’s presidential nomination by winning Sunday’s left-wing primary with about 60% of the vote, according to the electoral service Servel with 98% of ballots counted. Social-democrat Carolina Tohá obtained roughly 28%, while Gonzalo Winter and Jaime Mulet shared the remainder amid turnout of just 1.4 million voters. The 51-year-old becomes the first communist to lead a unified left ticket since the country’s return to democracy in 1990. Jara gained national prominence for steering key Boric initiatives, including the reduction of the workweek to 40 hours and increases to the minimum wage. In her victory speech she called for unity across the centre-left to confront what she described as a resurgent far right. Jara will compete in the 16 November presidential election against at least three right-leaning contenders: ultra-conservative José Antonio Kast, centre-right Evelyn Matthei and libertarian Johannes Kaiser. Consecutive terms are barred, preventing Boric from running again. Most opinion polls currently give the edge to Kast and Matthei, suggesting a likely runoff on 14 December if no candidate wins an outright majority. Financial markets took the result in stride. The Chilean peso strengthened on Monday, driving the US dollar down to around CLP 936 at the open and later toward CLP 930, as traders assessed whether Jara’s emphatic victory increases the odds that voters will ultimately pivot to a more market-friendly right-wing alternative in November.