SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chile’s ultra-conservative former lawmaker José Antonio Kast secured a stunning victory in the presidential election Sunday, defeating the candidate of the center-left governing coalition and setting the stage for the country’s most right-wing government in 35 years of democracy.
Kast won 58.2% of the votes as Chileans overwhelmingly embraced his pledge to crack down on increased crime, deport hundreds of thousands of immigrants without legal status and revive the sluggish economy of one of Latin America’s most stable and prosperous nations. Kast’s supporters erupted into cheers in the street as results trickled in, shouting his name and honking horns.
His challenger, communist candidate Jeannette Jara, clinched 41.8% of the vote.
“Chile needs order — order in the streets, in the state, in the priorities that have been lost,” Kast bellowed in a lengthy victory speech that included his tough-on-crime talking points but lacked his usual vitriol. When his supporters interrupted him to boo Jara, he cut them off and snapped, “Respect!” — an about-face from his persona on the campaign trail.
Kast hailed his decisive margin of victory on Sunday, saying it provided him with a “broad mandate” that was also “a tremendous responsibility.”
“We are inviting you on a journey to recover values for a proper and healthy life,” he said. “It won’t be easy. It requires everyone’s commitment.”
Speaking at a public square in Chile’s capital of Santiago, Jara, who served as labor minister in the center-left government of President Gabriel Boric, encouraged her supporters not to be deterred by the outcome.
“It is in defeat that we learn the most,” Jara said shortly after calling Kast to concede the election and congratulate him on his successful campaign.
A regional trend gains traction
Chileans are not alone in their demand for radical change.
Kast’s election represents the latest in a string of votes that have turfed out incumbent governments across Latin America, vaulting right-wing leaders to power from Argentina to Bolivia as U.S. President Donald Trump looks to assert American dominance in the Western Hemisphere, in many cases punishing rivals and rewarding allies.
Argentina’s President Javier Milei, a radical libertarian closely aligned with Trump, was first to congratulate Kast on his victory.
“The left recedes,” he wrote on social media with a map of all the South American countries that had recently veered to the right.
The Trump administration was also quick to praise Kast. “Under his leadership, we are confident Chile will advance shared priorities to include strengthening public security, ending illegal immigration and revitalizing our commercial relationship,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
