The first round of Chile’s presidential poll continues the recent trend of ideologically polarized electoral contests in Latin America.

The November 21 vote saw the conservative José Antonio Kast narrowly edge leftist Gabriel Boric by three percent, with the two receiving 28 and 25 percent of first-round ballots respectively. Neither came anywhere close to the 50 percent needed to keep the vote from proceeding to a second round, which is now scheduled for December 19.