SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — As Chileans vote on Sunday, even detractors of ultra-conservative former lawmaker José Antonio Kast say the candidate whose radical ideas lost him the past two elections is now almost certain to become Chile’s next leader.

Kast’s meaningful lead in the polls over his rival in the presidential runoff, communist Jeannette Jara, shows how the hard-liner agitating for mass deportations of immigrants has seized the mantle of the traditional right in a country that once defined its post-dictatorship democratic revival with a vow to contain such political forces.

Many voters are frustrated with the options

But much is also up for grabs about Chile’s political direction.

Kast's claim to a popular mandate depends on his margin of victory on Sunday over Jara, the center-le

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