Voting begins in Chilean presidential runoff

SANTIAGO -- Voting in the Chilean presidential runoff election opened on Sunday, with leftist candidate Jeannette Jara and Republican contender Jose Antonio Kast competing in the runoff.

According to Chile's Electoral Service, the voting began at 8 am local time (1100 GMT) and will end at 6 pm (2100 GMT) on the same day, with more than 15 million registered voters.

In this round of voting, the candidate who receives the most votes will win the election. The president-elect will take office on March 11 next year.

No candidate received more than 50 percent of the votes in the first round on Nov 16, which meant Jara and Kast, who had won 26.85 percent and 23.92 percent of the votes, respectively, advanced to the runoff.

The two candidates have focused on improving social security, handling illegal immigration and other issues to win over voters.