Daniel Jadue is a Palestinian, a communist, and mayor of the Recoleta commune in Santiago de Chile. An architect and sociologist by training, he has emerged as a possible candidate for the Left in next year’s presidential election, with some polls attributing him 19 percent support. But how does a communist become a contender in a country with a long anti-communist tradition, dating back even before the Pinochet dictatorship?

The most striking factor seems to be Mayor Jadue’s capacity to carry out national politics from the local level, with welfare projects and community participation initiatives adopted by other municipalities throughout Chile. Yet the national political situation is also extremely unstable, and for decades, political representation has been running on inertia more than anything else. Jadue is one of those few figures who has raised his head above the gnawing distrust toward representative democracy — instead calling for a “democratic revolution.”

On Sunday, Chileans voted by a 78 percent majority to abandon the Pinochet-era constitution, triggering a process to write a new one. Ahead of the vote, Jacobin América Latina spoke to Jadue about the possible outcomes of the constituent process, the broader progressive cycle in Latin America, and his bid to conquer a majority in Chilean society.