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“Chile needs order!”, José Antonio Kast proclaimed during his first speech as Chile’s president-elect, with a huge red, white and blue Chilean flag flickering on the screen behind him. The crowd cheered. Fifty-eight percent of eligible voters voted for him — more than 7 million people. Only 42 percent, just over 5 million, voted for left-wing candidate Jeannette Jara. This makes Kast the president with the most votes in Chile’s history — also a result of the reintroduction of compulsory voting.
Sophia Boddenberg is a freelance journalist reporting on Chile and other Latin American countries.
For Chile’s centre-left parties, which have ruled continuously since the end of the military dictatorship with the exception of two terms in office by right-wing businessman Sebastián Piñera, it marks a bitter defeat. For the first time since the return to democracy in 1990, a right-wing extremist has been elected president.
Many people are disappointed with the government of former student leader Gabriel Boric, once the hope of many leftists across Latin America. His coalition was only able to push through a few of its announced social reforms in a parliament dominated by right-wing parties. The rejection of the progressive draft constitution in 2022 was a heavy defeat for the government, from which it never recovered.
At the same time, dissatisfaction among the population grew. As Boric’s former labour minister, Jara was considered the “business as usual” candidate in this presidential election. But Chileans want change — even if it comes from the Right.
“Chile Wants Change”
Kast, a 59-year-old lawyer, wears a dark suit, white shirt, and blue tie. His white hair is combed neatly to one side. In his speech, he thanks God and his family. He speaks of a country in crisis, with people living in fear and terror. To solve Chile’s problems, he says, an “emergency government” is needed. “We will work tirelessly to restore peace and order”, he says. “Because Chile has given us a clear mandate: Chile wants change.”
Chile is one of the safest countries in Latin America, with violent crime and murder rates well below the regional average. Nevertheless, according to surveys, security was the most pressing concern for the people and therefore one of the most important issues in the campaign. In recent years, new forms of violence have emerged that were previously more common in Mexico and Colombia: contract killings, protection rackets, kidnappings. These are often linked to organized and drug-related crime. In addition, the largely right-wing conservative television stations report daily on robberies in their news programmes. The Gallup Global Law and Order Report 2025 shows that Chile is one of the six countries worldwide where the feeling of insecurity is particularly pronounced. According to the survey, 39 percent of Chileans feel unsafe when walking alone in the evening — a high figure by international standards.
“For years, the Right has been talking about crime and promising security and order, while the Left has long failed to attach any importance to this problem”, says Octavio Avendaño, a political scientist at the University of Chile. Chilean society is “very distrustful and fearful”. There are historical reasons for this. During the military dictatorship, community structures such as trade unions, neighbourhood associations, and social organizations were destroyed. This led to increased individualism. “When people don’t trust each other, it has political consequences”, says the political scientist.
A Supporter of the Military Regime
At the celebrations on election night, most people wave Chilean national flags. But among them are also flags bearing the face of former dictator Augusto Pinochet. Kast has openly praised Pinochet on several occasions in the past.
In a campaign advert for the referendum on Pinochet’s removal from office in 1988, Kast appeared as a young law student and openly declared his support for the military regime. He is the younger brother of Pinochet’s minister Miguel Kast, one of the notorious “Chicago Boys” who, during the dictatorship, transformed the Chilean state in line with the neoliberal teachings of the Chicago School. When Kast ran for president in 2017, he said, “If Pinochet were still alive, he would vote for me.” Furthermore, during his election campaign, he did not rule out pardoning convicted perpetrators of the military dictatorship, including figures such as Miguel Krassnoff, who was sentenced to over 650 years in prison for crimes against humanity.
Although the Republican Party does not have a majority in parliament, Kast benefits from a united right wing, as he has been able to rally both libertarian and centrist forces behind him.
Kast’s political career began in the ultra-conservative UDI party, founded by Jaime Guzmán, one of the dictatorship’s most important ideologues and architect of the constitution that remains in force today. In his early years as a student at the Universidad Católica, Kast cultivated a close relationship with Jaime Guzmán, who was his political mentor and shaped his political thinking and values. Kast soon led the wing of the party that adhered to a conservative agenda, such as in its opposition to legislation on divorce and same-sex marriage. When the UDI took a more moderate stance as part of the governing coalition of right-wing President Sebastián Piñera, Kast felt increasingly alienated. For him, the party’s stance no longer reflected Guzmán’s original legacy. Kast later explicitly criticized the UDI for losing its clear identity and leadership. In 2016, he finally left the party and founded his own political project: the Republican Party.
As a member of parliament, he campaigned against the legalization of divorce, the relaxation of the abortion ban and sex education in schools. A devout Catholic and father of nine children, he rejects contraception. Until 2024, he was chairman of the Political Network of Values, a Christian conservative international network that campaigns against abortion, same-sex marriage, and LGBTIQ rights, among other things, and is closely linked to the Trump-affiliated Heritage Foundation.
Kast’s father was a German Army officer and Nazi Party member who immigrated to Chile after World War II. In Paine, where the family ran a sausage factory, they are said to have collaborated with the Pinochet regime, which had farmers abducted and murdered. Kast denies the allegations.
Chile Shifts to the Right
Kast already ran against Gabriel Boric in the run-off election during the last presidential election in 2021. At that time, he narrowly lost to the young left-wing candidate. Internationally, he is close to US President Donald Trump and, like Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil and Javier Milei in Argentina, is part of the so-called New Right in Latin America. Kast also has a strong network beyond this: according to media reports, German-Chilean entrepreneur Sven von Storch, husband of Alternative für Deutschland politician Beatrix von Storch, is his advisor. Kast also maintains contacts with Giorgia Meloni and Viktor Orbán, with whom he discussed political cooperation after entering the runoff election.
Although the Republican Party does not have a majority in parliament, Kast benefits from a united right wing, as he has been able to rally both libertarian and centrist forces behind him. Cut, dismiss, abolish — Kast is guided by the “chainsaw politics” of Javier Milei, whose deputy economy minister was Kast’s advisor during the 2021 election campaign. He has announced radical cuts in government spending, tax cuts for businesses, and the abolition of environmental regulations. At the same time, he promises more police, more prisons, and the deportation of irregular migrants.
With Kast’s victory, Latin America is moving further to the right. His broad support shows that a far-right candidate can win a majority in an insecure, dissatisfied, and fragmented society — if the Left fails to make tangible improvements to people’s material living conditions. Chile is sending a signal: even in a country with relatively stable democratic institutions and comparatively low levels of violence, an election can be won with a rhetoric of fear, security, and order.
Translated by Loren Balhorn.
