SANTIAGO, Nov 21 (Reuters) – Chilean hard-right former congressman Jose Antonio Kast was on track to win the country’s presidential election late on Sunday, though well short of a majority meaning he would likely face a polarized run-off with leftist lawmaker Gabriel Boric.

With just under 50% of the vote counted Kast had received 28.64% of ballots versus 24.44% for Boric, with a sizeable gap between them and the rest of the field. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote there will be a second round on Dec. 19.

The election is the copper-rich Andean country’s most divisive since its 1990 return to democracy, which has split voters between left-wing protest against the traditional order and those seeking a harder line against crime and immigration.

Kast, a 55-year-old Catholic and father of nine, has praised the neo-liberal “economic legacy” of former dictator Augusto Pinochet. His frank talk, across-the-board conservatism and sometimes-idiosyncratic policy ideas, such as digging a ditch to curb illegal immigration, have drawn frequent comparisons with former U.S. President Donald Trump and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro.

Boric, a 35-year-old lawmaker who led student protests in 2011 demanding improvements to Chile’s education system, has pledged to scrap the nation’s laissez-faire economic model, while strengthening environmental protections and indigenous rights. Broadly speaking, he represents a significant rupture from the conservative to centrist policies that have dominated Chilean politics for decades.

“For me, the most important thing is that we establish a country where people have rights,” said 54-year-old lawyer Romario Deluca, while waiting in line to vote for Boric in central Santiago.

Read the full story.