Chile shifts right as Pinochet fan José Antonio Kast wins election run-off by a landslide

Chile elected its most right-wing president in 35 years of democracy on Sunday as arch-conservative Jose Antonio Kast scored a thumping victory over his leftist run-off rival.

Kast won some 58 percent of the vote and held an unassailable lead over Jeannette Jara, the Partido Comunista de Chile candidate who headed a broad leftist coalition.

Chile’s new president-elect campaigned on a promise to expel more than 300,000 immigrants, seal the northern border, take a "firm hand" on near-record crime rates and restart the stalled economy.

"Chile wanted change" Kast told thousands of elated supporters Sunday evening, vowing to "restore respect for the law," while pledging to govern for all Chileans and to listen to critics.

Once one of the Americas safest countries, Chile was hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, violent social protests and an influx of foreign organised crime groups.

In Santiago, Kast supporters beeped car horns, waved flags and cheered a man who has repeatedly defended the bloody dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

Retiree Gina Mello hoped Kast would "deploy the military" to the streets from day one, "lock up all the drug-traffickers and deport anyone who came here to commit crimes."

Supporters sang the national anthem, chanted "Pinochet! Pinochet!" and clasped portraits of the late autocrat. Another Kast voter came dressed as US President Donald Trump.

Police said they detained one person in a small anti-Kast demonstration in the capital.

For Kast, a 59-year-old father of nine, it was third time lucky, after two failed attempts at the presidency.

It is the latest victory for Latin America's right, after winning elections in Argentina, Bolivia, Honduras, El Salvador and Ecuador.

Quickly after the polls closed and the scale of the victory became clear, Jara called Kast to concede, saying voters had spoken "loud and clear."

In a speech Monday, Kast dialled down his anti-migrant rhetoric and promised to lead a government of "national unity" that would focus on "security, health, education and housing."

"This is not one person's or one party's government. It will be broader to achieve consensus on fundamental issues," he said. 

 

Milei cheers result

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Argentina's Javier Milei were among those who sent their congratulations.

Milei, in particular, celebrated the “overwhelming” victory of his "friend" across the Andes.

The president said it was "another step forward" in Latin America towards defending "life, liberty and private property.”

"I am confident that we will work together to ensure that America embraces the ideas of freedom and that we can free ourselves from the oppressive yoke of 21st-century socialism...!!!" concluded Milei.

Sources close the Presidency said that Kast would travel to see Milei in Buenos Aires on Tuesday.

Argentina’s Cabinet Chief Manuel Adorni also took to social media to congratulate Kast. “ "Freedom and the defence of private property will be part of the road ahead. God bless Chile," he wrote.

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry in Buenos Aires expressed its willingness to "work together" not only with Chile, but with partner countries in the region "in defence of the principles of democracy, freedom and unrestricted respect for human rights."

Argentina “expresses its willingness to begin dialogue with the new authorities on priority issues for both countries, such as the fight against drug-trafficking and transnational organised crime, the promotion of trade and investment, and cooperation in key sectors of the economy," it added.

From Washington, Rubio hailed Kast’s win. “We are confident Chile will advance shared priorities to include strengthening public security, ending illegal immigration, and revitalizing our commercial relationship," read a statement.

Extreme measures

Kast is to the right of most Chileans on many social issues, including abortion, which he opposes even in cases of rape. He is against emergency contraception, divorce, same-sex marriage and euthanasia. 

He even once forbade his lawyer wife, Maria Pia Adriasola, from using birth control pills.

But many Chileans fed up with high crime and slow growth during four years of leftist rule said they would vote for change, despite misgivings.

Polls showed more than 60 percent of Chileans thought security is the top issue facing the country.

And while statistics show that violent crime – fuelled by Venezuelan, Peruvian, Colombian and Ecuadorean gangs – has risen in the last 10 years, fears about crime have risen even faster.

Richard Kouyoumdjian, a security expert and former naval officer, said Kast would have to quickly develop a strategy to secure the border, strengthen the police, bring immigration under control and end an Indigenous insurgency in the south.  

"On security it's very basic what he's said," Kouyoumdjian told AFP. "It's policy in 200 characters on Facebook or Twitter."

Kast has warned undocumented migrants: "Pack your things and leave."

He has claimed immigration is a plot by the "radical left" to end freedoms and that immigrants are taking homes, hospital beds and government funds from Chileans.

They "told us that they can't close the borders and now we can't open our windows for fear of violence," he said.

His rise comes amid a conservative wave sweeping Latin America and after Trump's re-election in the United States. 

 

'Pinochet out of uniform'

Born in Santiago, Kast studied law at the city's Catholic university and has been a politician for 30 years.

His legislative achievements were limited to passing laws allowing the construction of statues, granting a nun a Chilean passport and laws regulating lotteries.

A staunch Catholic, he broke from Chile's mainstream conservative party in 2016 to found the more radical Republican Party.

Kast's hardline positions have raised fears that he will try to rewrite the history of a dictatorship that tortured and imprisoned tens of thousands of people.

"I'm fearful because I think we are going to have a lot of repression," said 71-year-old retiree Cecilia Mora. "I see him as a Pinochet out of uniform.”

Pinochet left power in 1990, after Chileans rejected a bid to extend his 17-year rule via referendum. At the time Kast campaigned for Pinochet.

Kast's family background has also raised questions. Media investigations have revealed his German-born father was a member of Adolf Hitler's Nazi party and a soldier during World War II.

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

During the campaign, Kast has appeared behind bulletproof glass and admitted to carrying a revolver. 

Still, biographer Amanda Marton described him as "sober, pragmatic, calm compared to other far-right leaders." 

Unlike Milei, Brazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro or the United States's Donald Trump, Kast is seen as reserved and cautious. 

"He's far more conservative and lacks charisma," said Robert Funk, a political scientist at the University of Chile.

Supporters say a calm demeanour is part of his appeal.

"He doesn't insult or provoke," said retiree Maria Eugenia Rosas, 69, in the central city of Temuco.

But former colleagues describe him as authoritarian: "You're with him or against him," recalled journalist Lily Zúñiga.

"He feels born for greatness," Zúñiga said.

 

Incumbent blues

Jara's stint as labour minister under outgoing leftist President Gabriel Boric proved to be an Achilles' Heel.

Boric's term was crippled by repeated failed attempts to reform the Pinochet-era constitution.

Since 2010, Chileans have alternated between left- and right-wing governments at every presidential election.

While voters are often asked to choose between extremes, the country has proven itself to be centrist. 

Kast will take office in March.

 

– TIMES/AFP