Conservative José Antonio Kast was elected president of Chile on Sunday (14), confirming the favoritism he maintained throughout the second-round campaign. With this result, the right returns to La Moneda Palace after four years of left-wing government under the leadership of Gabriel Boric.
With 83.43% of votes counted, Kast reached 59.8% of the votes, against 40.2% for the government candidate Jeannette Jara, from the Communist Party. The nearly 20 percentage point advantage led Chilean electoral authorities to consider the victory irreversible even during the counting process.
Recognition of Defeat and Conciliatory Speech
Still on Sunday (14), Jeannette Jara acknowledged the defeat and contacted the winner. “Democracy has spoken loud and clear. I just communicated with President-elect José Antonio Kast to wish him success for the good of Chile,” she said. She then added: “To those who supported us, rest assured that we will continue working to advance toward a better life in our homeland.”
Kast voted in the Paine commune, about 40 kilometers from Santiago, where he was received by supporters shouting “President!”. After leaving the polling station, he stated that he will seek to govern for all. “Whoever wins will have to be president of all Chileans,” he declared to the press.
Profile of the President-Elect
Lawyer, Catholic, and father of nine children, José Antonio Kast is 59 years old and ran for president for the third time. In previous campaigns, he was defeated, mainly due to his positions on conservative social issues. In this election, he adopted a different strategy, reducing the centrality of those themes, incorporating women into the campaign, and increasing his acceptance among voters.
The founder of the Republican Party, created five years ago, Kast decided to carve his own path, considering the traditional right excessively moderate. One of the authors of his biography, María José Hinojosa, stated that he is a “charming man with messianic delusions” and that he sees himself as “the savior of Chile”.
Security, immigration, and base in Congress.
Among the main promises of the president-elect is a tougher policy to combat crime and the deportation of approximately 340,000 undocumented immigrants, mostly Venezuelans. However, Kast did not detail how he plans to implement these measures, which require significant financial resources and agreements with other countries. The new government should count on a favorable Congress. The Republican Party expanded its presence in the Chamber and Senate and can count on the support of other right-wing parties to advance its agenda after the inauguration, scheduled for March.
Crime as the Central Campaign Theme
During the campaign, Kast repeatedly stated that “the country is crumbling” and portrayed Chile as a country weakened by violence and drug trafficking, a speech that resonated with part of the electorate. “What matters, more than social benefits, are jobs and security. So that people can leave home without fear and return at night without thinking that something will happen to them in the street corners,” said Úrsula Villalobos, a 44-year-old housewife who declared her vote for Kast.
An Ipsos poll released in October indicated that 63% of Chileans consider crime and violence their greatest concerns, followed by low economic growth. Experts point out that the feeling of insecurity is greater than the real figures, although violent crimes have increased over the last decade, especially kidnappings and extortions.
Political Context and Challenges
Gabriel Boric’s government, which came to power after the massive 2019 protests, faced difficulties in implementing structural reforms, especially the attempt to replace the Constitution inherited from the Augusto Pinochet era. According to political scientist Robert Funk from the University of Chile, the failure in this process “completely destroyed his political support”.
Kast declared his support for the military regime and stated that if Pinochet were alive, he would vote for him. In the most recent campaign, he avoided delving into this issue and reduced mentions of his opposition to abortion in any circumstance, topics considered sensitive from an electoral point of view.
Since 2010, Chile has experienced a constant alternation between right-wing and left-wing governments. For Funk, Kast’s victory does not represent a blank check. Many people, argues the professor, voted for him “despite his support for Pinochet, not because of his support for Pinochet”.
Source: brasil247.com