Santiago [Chile], December 15 (ANI): Far-right politician Jose Antonio Kast has won Chile’s presidential runoff, becoming the country’s 38th president and ending the rule of the centre-left government, Al Jazeera reported.
Preliminary results showed Kast defeating Jeannette Jara, the former Labour Minister and Communist Party politician who represented the governing Unity for Chile coalition. Jara and her coalition conceded soon after polls closed.
After the loss, Jara posted on X, acknowledging the democratic mandate and saying she had contacted the president-elect to wish him success for Chile’s good. She told supporters the campaign’s work for a better future would continue: “Democracy spoke loud and clear. I just communicated with the President-elect, Jose Antonio Kast, to wish him success for the good of Chile. To those who supported us and were rallied by our candidacy, rest assured that we will continue working to advance a better life in our homeland. Together and standing tall, as we have always done.”
Kast’s victory is another rightward shift in Latin America, where conservative leaders have recently won power in countries including Argentina and Ecuador, Al Jazeera noted.
At 59, Kast leads the Republican Party and secured the presidency on his third bid. He lost the 2021 contest to outgoing President Gabriel Boric by nearly 10 points. Boric, Chile’s youngest president at the time, saw his approval drop to about 30 percent by the end of his term and was ineligible for re-election, Al Jazeera reported.
Voter discontent over rising crime, immigration and a slowing economy helped Kast’s bid. His campaign promised strict measures: mass deportations, tougher sentencing and isolating cartel leaders in maximum-security facilities under a security platform called the “Implacable Plan,” aimed at cracking down on crime while protecting ordinary citizens.
Kast holds conservative positions on social and health issues, notably opposing abortion even in cases of rape. His past praise for the 1973–1990 dictator Augusto Pinochet—saying “If he were alive, he would vote for me”—and scrutiny over his family background, including his father Michael Martin Kast’s reported former Nazi Party membership and emigration to Chile in 1950, have drawn criticism.
An Al Jazeera correspondent in Santiago described Kast’s win as a historic moment for Chile’s far right—the first conservative government since the return to democracy in 1990. Although Kast softened some positions to broaden appeal during the campaign, his association with Pinochet’s legacy raises questions about how far his conservative agenda will go, Al Jazeera reported. (ANI)
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