Presidential candidate Jose Antonio Kast, of the Republican Celebration, waves after profitable the presidential runoff election in Santiago, Chile, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025.
Matias Delacroix/AP Photograph
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Matias Delacroix/AP Photograph
SANTIAGO, Chile —Chile has taken a decisive flip to the proper after José Antonio Kast, a hardline conservative, gained the nation’s presidential runoff, following a marketing campaign dominated by fears over crime, migration and financial uncertainty.
With over 99% of ballots counted, Kast, the chief of the Republican Celebration, secured over 58% of the vote.
His rival, Communist Celebration candidate Jeannette Jara, who acquired simply over 41% of the vote, known as to concede defeat, writing on social media, “democracy spoke loud and clear.” Outgoing President Gabriel Boric additionally phoned Kast to congratulate him.
As outcomes had been confirmed, the streets erupted with honking automobile horns, and crowds waving Chilean flags packed one among Santiago’s wealthiest districts, keen to listen to the president-elect communicate.
“We’ll work relentlessly to revive peace, order, development, and hope,” Kast declared after his victory. He pledged to be “the president of all Chileans.”
“Chile might be free from crime once more, free from anguish, free from worry,” he declared.
On the marketing campaign path, Kast largely averted his ultra-conservative social views — together with assist for a complete abortion ban, conventional gender roles and opposition to same-sex marriage — positions that undermined his two earlier presidential bids by alienating average voters.
As a substitute, the 59-year-old religious Catholic ran nearly totally on public safety and immigration, warning Chile was in “disaster” and pledging to steer an “emergency” authorities.
His message struck a chord in a rustic shaken by a current surge in violent crime and rising unease over undocumented migration.
A staunch admirer of former dictator Augusto Pinochet, Kast will turn into the primary president since Chile’s return to democracy in 1990 to overtly assist the navy regime. His father, Michael Kast, was a member of the Nazi Celebration who fought within the German military throughout World Battle II earlier than emigrating to Chile in 1950.
A supporter of Chile’s presidential candidate Jose Antonio Kast, of the Partido Republicano get together.
JAVIER TORRES/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
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JAVIER TORRES/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
Kast is about to take workplace March 11, 2026. He has pledged to present undocumented migrants till that date to go away the nation, warning that those that stay would face deportation or prosecution.
Kast’s victory follows years of left-of-center rule in Chile. It additionally displays a broader regional pattern in Latin America by which safety and migration have turn into decisive electoral points.
In elections this yr Bolivia ousted socialists who had dominated for almost twenty years. Argentina’s La Libertad Avanza gained legislative elections, boosting President Javier Milei’s affect in Congress, and Ecuador re-elected center-right Daniel Noboa.
Far-right libertarian President Javier Milei of neighboring Argentina welcomed Kast’s win, calling his “good friend’s” victory proof that Latin America is putting off the “oppressive shackles of Twenty first-century socialism.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio tweeted his congratulations, saying Washington appears to be like ahead to “partnering together with his administration to strengthen regional safety.”
