Far-Right Candidate Jose Antonio Kast Wins Chile Presidential Election

With nearly 80 percent of the votes counted, Caste received 58 percent of the vote; This created an unquestionable lead over Communist Party member Jeannette Jara, who led a broad left-wing coalition.

In central Santiago, Caste supporters honked car horns, waved flags and applauded a man who once openly defended Augusto Pinochet’s bloody dictatorship.

Kast campaigned on promises to deport hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants, close the northern border, combat high rates of violent crime and restart a stalled economy.

Once one of the safest and most prosperous countries in the Americas, Chile has been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, violent social protests and an influx of organized crime groups.

“I have high expectations that he will solve the immigration problem,” said Maribel Saavedra, a 42-year-old social worker.

This is the latest victory for the Latin American right, after winning elections in Argentina, Bolivia, Honduras, El Salvador and Ecuador.

For Kast, 59, a father of nine, it was a lucky third attempt at the presidency.

Jara said he called Kast on X to concede defeat shortly after the initial results were announced, adding that voters had spoken “loud and clear”.

-‘Extreme measures’-

After casting his vote and taking selfies with supporters near Santiago, Kast vowed to seek unity after a sometimes bitter campaign: “The winner will be president for all Chileans.”

Caste is far to the right of most Chileans on many social issues, including abortion, and opposes these issues without exception.

But many Chileans, fed up with high crime rates and slow growth during four years of left-wing rule, said they would vote for change despite concerns.

Ursula Villalobos, 44, a housewife from Santiago, said she plans to vote Caste and is willing to accept some radical changes that would bring security.

“The important thing is that people can leave their homes without fear and return at night without worrying that something will happen to them on street corners,” he told AFP.

Polls show that more than 60 percent of Chileans think the most important issue facing the country is security, overshadowing issues such as the economy, health and education.

While statistics show that violent crime fueled by Venezuelan, Peruvian, Colombian and Ecuadorian gangs has increased over the past 10 years, fears about crime have risen even faster.

– ‘Pinochet without uniform’ –

Kast’s hardline stances have also raised fears that he will plunge Chile into a dictatorship that has killed or eliminated more than 3,000 of its citizens and tortured thousands more.

“I’m afraid because I think we will be exposed to a lot of pressure,” said 71-year-old retiree Cecilia Mora, who said she would not vote for Kast “under any circumstances.”

“The right-wing candidate reminds me of the dictatorship. I experienced the dictatorship. I was young, but I lived it and suffered the pain.

“I see him as a Pinochet without uniform,” he said.

Pinochet left power in 1990 after Chileans rejected an offer to extend his 17-year rule through a referendum.

As a university student, Kast campaigned for the pro-Pinochet vote.

His family history also raised questions. Media investigations revealed that Kast’s German-born father was a member of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi party and a soldier during World War II.

Kast insists that his father was a conscript and did not support the Nazis.

– Incumbent blues –

Jara was ahead in the first round of voting in November, but right-wing candidates received the majority of votes.

The 51-year-old’s job as labor minister under outgoing President Gabriel Boric has proven to be his Achilles Heel.

Boric’s tenure was hobbled by repeated failed attempts to reform the Pinochet-era constitution.

Chileans have switched between left and right governments in every presidential election since 2010.

In this election, voting will be compulsory for the first time in more than a decade. Approximately 16 million citizens registered to vote.