On the 14th (local time), in Chile's presidential election (runoff), hard-line conservative Jose Antonio Kast, 59, the Republican Party candidate, won.
According to local media including the daily El Mercurio, the Chilean Electoral Service (Servicio Electoral de Chile (SERVEL)) said that with 57.44% of the votes counted, Kast had 59.16% and Gianette Jara, 51, backed by the ruling left, had 40.84%.
Local media treated Kast's presidential victory as a fait accompli. Jara also conceded defeat, saying on social media (SNS) X (formerly Twitter), "I had a phone call with President-elect Kast and offered congratulations."
President-elect Kast advanced to the runoff as the runner-up in the first round held on the 16th of last month, but by successfully consolidating conservative support, he achieved a change of government for the first time in four years since former President Sebastian Pinera (1949–2024), a center-right figure.
A lawyer by training, President-elect Kast clinched the presidency on his third attempt after runs in 2017 and 2021. Until his election, he had served four consecutive terms in the lower house since 2002. His father was a member of the German Nazi Party, and his brother served as a Minister in the regime of Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet (1915–2006).
Pledging to expel undocumented immigrants, President-elect Kast has the nickname "Chile's Trump." During the campaign, he counted down the days until the next presidential inauguration and warned undocumented immigrants, "Leave before the situation comes where you have to go with only the clothes on your back."
He promised a "return to market economic principles" to overcome the economic slump and is known to be planning public spending cuts, deregulation, a cut to the corporate tax rate, more flexible labor laws, and privatization of state-owned enterprises.
The outcome of this Chilean presidential election reflects voters' desire for a change in government. Political scientist David Altman (Pontifical Catholic University of Chile) told Reuters, "Chilean voters have not become more fascist in four years; with their backs turned on the left, the only place to land was Kast."
Recently in Latin America, the phenomenon of the right coming to power, the "blue tide" (Blue Tide), has become pronounced. Currently, in Argentina, Ecuador, Paraguay, Bolivia, El Salvador, and Costa Rica, broadly conservative governments have taken office. In Honduras as well, the ruling party's leftist candidate is likely to taste defeat.