Far-right José Antonio Kast of the Republican Party won the second round of presidential elections in Chile on Sunday, becoming the first far-right leader to enter government since the return to democracy, according to preliminary count data.
As all polls predicted, thanks to support from Evelyn Matthei’s traditional right and Johannes Kaiser’s more radical far right, Kast edged out progressive Jeannette Jara, who led the largest coalition of center-left and left-wing forces. With 25% counted, Kast gets 59.8% of the vote, while Jara gets 40.1%.
The third time, the charm
Kast will arrive at La Moneda after his third attempt (the previous ones date back to 2017 and 2021) and despite the defeat in the first round against Jara due to the fragmentation of the candidates within his own sector.
Aged 59, he is the son of a German immigrant couple – his father was affiliated with the Nazi party – and has a law degree from the Pontifical Catholic University. He was a deputy for 16 years for the conservative Independent Democratic Union (UDI), a party born under the regime of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), which he abandoned to found the Republican Party.
A defender of Pinochet in La Moneda
Close to the dictatorship, he defended it throughout his political career: his brother was the dictator’s minister and he supported the continuity of the regime during the 1988 plebiscite. During his career, he repeatedly applauded the neoliberal heritage of Pinochetism.
Until now, the first and only right-wing president in Chile since the return to democracy was the late Sebastián Piñera (2010-2014 and 2018-2022), who voted against the permanence of the dictator.
With the big promise of forming an “emergency government” to apply a firm hand against crime and irregular immigration, the ultra-Catholic lawyer and father of nine placed security and public order at the center of the electoral debate. According to his program, he will protect the northern border with fences and ditches, build maximum security prisons with total isolation for drug trafficking leaders and toughen punishments for any crime, among other things.
With Kast’s victory, Chile joins the wave of far-right governments around the world and in the region, consolidating a new pole in South America, alongside Javier Milei’s Argentina and reaching out to Donald Trump. Despite very similar programs, the tone and forms of the Chilean ultra are less aggressive and confrontational than those of these other leaders of the continent. His profile is closer to that of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, of whom he declares himself an admirer, or to that of the French Marine Le Pen.
Kast will receive the presidential sash on March 11 from outgoing President Gabriel Boric, who by law could not run for office. The president of the Republican Party, Arturo Squella, already announced a few days ago that the Kast government would integrate ministers from the traditional right-wing coalition, Chile Vamos, which supported him in these elections, but it remains to be seen if the radical far right Johannes Kaiser will also join it, who after losing the second round campaigned for Kast, but has not specified whether he wants to join the next Chilean executive.
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