Republican José Antonio Kast decisively wins Chile’s presidential elections

With participation similar to that of the first round in November, Chileans decided to withdraw their support for the center-left conglomerate led by President Gabriel Boric and which governs since March 2022 and he gave his support to one of the representatives of the radical right. The poll result confirms the type of pendulum in which Chile has been moving since 2009, an election in which the alternation of power between right and left began without interruption every four years.

In accordance with the republican rite established after the reestablishment of democracy in 1990, The president called by phone after 8:45 p.m.to the winning candidate and congratulated her on her undisputed victory, emphasizing the need to work for the unity of the country and assuring her that the position she will occupy involves great responsibility. In the televised interview, the president and Kast agreed to meet this Monday at 11 a.m. to begin coordinating an orderly transfer of command, including bilateral meetings between incoming and outgoing ministers.

Chileans went to vote with the certainty that whoever takes power on March 11 will focus on solving the three most pressing problems: the fight against crime, the control of illegal immigration and economic growth.

The elected president, whose speech on order and government efficiency has permeated the working classes, is the first president to come to power to have voted in favor of yes during the plebiscite of October 1988, an election in which General Augusto Pinochet was defeated and which marked the end of military rule. All his predecessors in power were declared opponents (they voted no) to the general’s maintenance in power until 1997 and, on the contrary, they were in favor of holding free elections.

The day passed quite normally, during which the president indicated that the winning candidate should be president. “of all Chileans” and He has also categorically ruled out the elections being a sort of plebiscite for his government.

Kast, predicting a landslide victory, declared that “It’s a great day for Chile” and promised that during his government he would work effectively in favor of all citizens because the problems “do not have political colors”.

“We will give our lives to rebuild our homeland. This is why we call for unity to solve the small problems that affect citizens. This will also depend on the collaboration of parliamentarians from the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate; “Not everything is done by the will of the president and his ministers,” he said.

The head of Republican Party (PR) He awaited the results in his command, located in the eastern sector of the capital, accompanied by the leaders of all the parties that supported him in the second round, namely the National Libertarian of Johannes Kaiser, the Christian-Social, the National Renewal, the UDI and Evopoli who were behind Evelyn Matthei, and the representatives of the Democrats and the Yellows.

The leader of the PR, senator-elect Arturo Squella, after confirming the victory, indicated that from Monday they will work to build an alliance or coalition to support the government that Kast will lead. “Each of the political forces that joined this candidacy must consider this government as their own”he added.

Kast won in all regions of the country, even in those in the north of the country, which in the first round leaned largely towards the populist Franco Parisi. Despite his call to vote invalid in this second round, blank and invalid votes did not exceed the number recorded on November 16.

On the other side, in the center of Santiago, the command of Jeannette Jara received the counts in the most absolute silence, aware that they could not overthrow the idea installed by the opposition; that his candidacy constituted a “continuity” of the current government.

The candidate admitted her defeat only an hour and a half after the start of the vote count. “Democracy has spoken loud and clear. I have just contacted the president-elect to wish him success for the good of Chile,” he wrote on his X account.

“To those who supported us and were invited by our candidacy, make it clear that we will continue to work for a better life in our country,” he added.

Jara wins abroad

Although voting for Chileans abroad is not mandatory, turnout at consulates and embassies was high throughout the day.

On this occasion, Jeannette Jara won among her compatriots residing abroad, but her vote was lower than that obtained by President Gabriel Boric in 2021, which was 71% of the votes.

During this second round, The first counts give him 67.85% of the votes to the standard bearer of the center left, against 32.15% of the Republican. In any case, during this vote, his performance improved since in the first round Jara obtained 46.7% of the votes against 16.9% for Kast.