José Antonio Kast met with Gabriel Boric to initiate the transition and is preparing to form an “emergency government” in Chile

“Bye, Boric!” shouts a man while waving a Chilean flag in front of La Moneda Palace. The sun is shining brightly on this Monday afternoon and the president is sitting in the government building in the center of Santiago Gabriel Boric receives the elected president José Antonio Kasthis staunch political opponent. But here traditions carry weight and both leaders, standing at the antipodes of the political arc, are the stars in the expected and heartfelt choreography that marks the beginning the transition to the most conservative government since the end of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship.

This began formal coordination between the outgoing government and the one that will succeed it since March 11, after Kast clearly won Sunday’s runoff against Jeannette Jara of the ruling party. On the same Sunday evening when official data confirmed the opposition leader’s victory, the president called him to congratulate him in a phone call that was broadcast live on all television channels in the country.

In his third attempt to become president of Chile – in 2021 he lost in the runoff precisely to Boric – the far-right leader received 7,254,850 votes (58.16%), compared to 5,218,444 votes for Jara (41.84%).

After an intense, at times aggressive election campaign marked by contradictory accusations, a climate of respect and cordiality has prevailed between two opposing political sides since Sunday evening. As soon as the results were known, Jara herself, a communist activist and former labor minister in the Boric government, called Kast to congratulate him and offer her cooperation.

The incumbent president also called him and, as is tradition here, invited him to a meeting that same Monday morning in the presidential palace for an initial contact with a view to handing over command. Kast arrived as planned at 11:30 a.m., after breakfast with residents of the Buin community on the outskirts of Santiago, where the now president-elect lives.

In front of La Moneda, behind the fences and a visible police presence, several supporters with flags and T-shirts with Kast’s name waited for him in the only shady square and arrived on Morandé Street. Meanwhile, some Santiago residents and tourists took photos and selfies at the huge Christmas tree placed in the Plaza de la Constitución.

Inside the palace, after a tour of the various rooms and the minutes meeting, which lasted just over an hour and which he described as “very positive and republican,” Kast made a brief statement to the press. He stressed that the country needs “an emergency government” and stressed that this will be his first mission.

“It was a very republican meeting in the broadest sense of the word, to learn about situations that affect the outgoing and the new administration and that may require coordination between them,” said the conservative leader, who came to the meeting accompanied by his wife María Pía Adriasola and several key figures who have been at his side throughout the election campaign, such as his economic adviser Jorge Quiroz, who is mentioned as a possible minister.

The future president added that the “emergency” executive he proposed “must be taken into account.” a government of national unity “On the priority issues on which there will be agreements, because there are situations that have a cross-cutting impact, such as security, health, housing, which require state policy.”

In the same direction, shortly afterwards met with leaders of other right and center-right partiesTo build bridges with a view to a government coalition. Kast’s team has just inaugurated the Office of the President-Elect (OPE), and the movement has already begun at the headquarters at 88 La Gloria Street in the wealthy Las Condes neighborhood, which everyone here already refers to as “La Moneda Chica.”

A 59-year-old lawyer, father of nine children and with a strong Catholic and ultra-liberal business background, Kast will be the first Pinochetista to become president of Chile since the return of democracy.

It is currently unclear what type of government the founder of the Republican Party will form. According to various political analysts consulted by ClarionKast should include figures from other political areas in his cabinet, particularly from the more moderate right, to maintain the legitimacy he gained in the elections.

Boric also referred to the meeting he had with Kast that Monday. In a statement he later read to the press, he insisted on defending the social rights achieved in his government and called on the future executive to respect them as “state policy.”

“The implementation of the pension reform, sectoral approvals, the establishment of the Ministry of Public Security, the vaccination process that we pushed forward until March, the comprehensive law against violence against women, the local children’s offices, the local public education services,” listed the Social Democratic leader from the presidential palace.

“He said they did it “a respectful, institutional and high-minded dialogue”in which they addressed “the work of the government, the progress of the country and the legislative agenda.”

The President stressed that it is “very important” to take into account “that beyond the different political visions that we both represent, there is a continuity of the state, a continuity of its institutions, a continuity of public service and of the democratic order.”