Right José Antonio Kast with his wife María Pía Adriasola at the celebration last night / AFP
On the third attempt, José Antonio Kast from the right-wing Republican Party won the elections against his left-wing competitor Jeannette Jara, who admitted defeat. With more than 98% of votes counted, Kast received 58.21% of the vote, compared to 41.79% for Jara, the candidate of the ruling party led by current President Gabriel Boric.
Last night President Javier Milei celebrated the result, describing his friend’s victory as “overwhelming”. “I am sure that we will work together so that America embraces the ideas of freedom and we can free ourselves from the oppressive yoke of 21st century socialism…!!!,” he concluded on his social networks.
More sober than other leaders of the same ideology, Kast, a devout Catholic, promised a “relentless” plan to restore security and order in Chile.
Kast, 59 years old and father of nine children, is an unreservedly ultra-conservative lawyer: He also opposes abortion in cases of rape, emergency contraception, the pill, divorce, gay marriage and euthanasia.
He has been active in politics for 30 years, without the sharpness of right-wing leaders such as the Brazilian Jair Bolsonaro or the Argentine Javier Milei, with whom he likes to compare himself. “He’s much more conservative in character and doesn’t have a very charismatic personality,” says Robert Funk, a professor of political science at the University of Chile.
YOUR LEGISLATIVE JOURNEY
His achievements as a congressman are limited to passing laws that allowed the erection of statues, the sale of presbyopia glasses without a prescription, the granting of a Chilean passport to a nun and regular lotteries.
An admirer of Augusto Pinochet’s 1973-1990 dictatorship, he won favor with Chileans with his promise to fight crime head-on and deport nearly 340,000 irregular migrants, mostly Venezuelans.
The feeling of insecurity goes far beyond the evidence that Chile is a crime-ridden country, despite the increase in crime in recent years.
“This government has created chaos, disorder and uncertainty. And we will go the opposite way,” said Kast, who will take office on March 11. He was elected amid a conservative wave sweeping Latin America and after Donald Trump’s second victory in the United States.
ARMORED AND WITH REVOLVER
The founder of the Republican Party held several campaign events behind bulletproof glass and revealed that he owned a five-bullet revolver.
One of his promises is to increase police firepower. Still, “compared to the other far-right leaders he compares himself to, he seems very sober, very pragmatic, very slow and very calm,” said journalist Amanda Marton, co-author of the book “Kast, the Chilean Far Right.”
He is married to María Pía Adriasola. In 2017, his wife said in an interview that Kast had banned her from taking birth control pills.
Kast is the youngest of ten children of a German couple who emigrated to Chile and built a successful sausage business, which they inherited.
HIS FATHER, NAZI
Journalistic research revealed in 2021 that his father was a member of Adolf Hitler’s NSDAP. But Kast claimed he was a forced recruit in the German army during World War II and a businessman who was a Nazi.
Pensioner María Eugenia Rosas, 69 years old and living in Temuco, is attracted by his manners and openness: “He doesn’t get upset, he doesn’t insult and he doesn’t provoke,” she says. Pensioner Erika Arredondo, 70, however, feels fear. “He is a person who is like the story of the wolf. A wolf who disguises himself as a good person,” he comments in Santiago. His rise to power marks the first triumph of the extreme right since the end of the dictatorship.
MODERATE?
He was always dapper and occasionally flashed a smile when tensions arose in the debates of this campaign. Although he usually remains calm, he can also be authoritarian, according to former employees.
“Either you are with him or he is against you,” recalls Lily Zúñiga, who worked with him in the Independent Democratic Union (UDI), where he was active for two decades. “He feels like he wasn’t born for lesser things,” he adds.
Kast resigned from this formation in 2016 because he had stopped “conveying the ideas” he defended.
Three years later, he founded the Republican Party, which he leads with a mix of “personal sympathy” and “strong control,” according to Javiera González, co-author of the book “Kast, the Messiah of the Chilean Right.” His campaign spokeswoman, Mara Sedini, highlights his “work ethic.” “You have to be stubborn about things, he’s stubborn,” but he’s also able to “flex and learn,” he adds.
Kast took revenge for his defeats. “How many times did they tell us it was impossible, that we couldn’t do it?” he said. “Some laughed, underestimated us and others even ignored us.”
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