Villa Alemana, Chile – Cumbia music blasts from the speakers of a makeshift stage at a small, unassuming park in Villa Alemana, part of Chile’s central region.

Hundreds of locals crowd onto the paved park grounds. Pockets of friends dance together, and children race around their parents’ legs.

They have come to hear one of the frontrunners in Chile's presidential race: Jeannette Jara.

A former labour minister, Jara is the nominee representing the leftist coalition in Sunday's election.

But it is her membership in the Communist Party that makes her presidential bid historic. Not since Chile's return to democracy in 1990 has a Communist candidate enjoyed such broad, mainstream support.

For some, Jara's success is a barometer for the economic malaise fuelling this year's election cycle.

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