Chile on the correct | EUROtoday

Cimpeccable darkish apparel, rigorously styled graying hair, calm and composed smile… At 59 years outdated, José Antonio Kast cultivates a picture of a reassuring notable who contrasts with the extremist labels which can be usually hooked up to him. This father of 9 kids is a religious Catholic near the German apostolic Schoenstatt motion, based by Father Joseph Kentenich, some of the tenacious and visual resisters to Nazi ideology. Kast is the son of a Nazi social gathering member who emigrated to Chile after World War II.

After a modest rating of 8% within the 2017 presidential election then a defeat within the second spherical in opposition to Gabriel Boric in 2021, José Antonio Kast can lastly savor his victory. This Sunday, December 14, the chief of the Chilean Republican Party received with almost 60% of the votes, in line with provisional outcomes, confirming the predictions of the polls which gave him victory in opposition to the communist Jeannette Jara, who had obtained a rating 26.8% within the first spherical and admitted her defeat firstly of the night.

Between the 2 rounds, Kast, who took benefit of the votes of right-wing candidates defeated within the first spherical, utilized a technique of consolidation somewhat than growth. He averted exposing himself and dealing with dangerous conditions for his marketing campaign. He thus refused to take part in a number of debates, notably that of this system of Don Francisco, emblematic tv determine of Chile. “We don’t say no to Don Francisco,” commented the Chilean political atmosphere, shocked by this uncommon refusal.

But Kast did not have to take dangers. From the night time of the primary spherical, he had obtained the help of Johannes Kaiser (13.9%) and Evelyn Matthei (12.4%), the 2 different right-wing candidates eradicated. The three totaled greater than 50% of the votes. “For the good of Chile and to get out of the crisis we are in, unity is fundamental. We must unite for a cause which is Chile,” he declared, Matthei at his facet. The closing blow got here from Franco Parisi, the populist economist who got here third with 19.7% of the vote. After a web based session, his social gathering referred to as for a null or clean vote, refusing to help both candidate. A snub for Jeannette Jara who hoped to get better a part of this anti-system voters.

The shadow of the previous

José Antonio Kast’s journey stays inseparable from a posh household historical past. His father, Michael Kast, was a member of the Nazi Party earlier than emigrating to Chile after World War II, as revealed by a blue membership slip present in German federal archives. If the elected president has at all times affirmed that “he and his entire family hate the Nazi ideology”, he has by no means hidden his admiration for sure points of General Pinochet’s regime, whereas condemning “the violations of human rights” dedicated in the course of the dictatorship (1973-1990).

During the December 3 debate, this ambiguity resurfaced when the moderator reminded him that the opportunity of American intervention in Venezuela “brought bad memories to Chile” – in reference to the 1973 coup d’état. Kast merely shrugged his shoulders. He even issued a cryptic ultimatum to Nicolás Maduro: “I can only tell Mr. Maduro that he had better leave and that he has 98 days left” – a thinly veiled reference to his deliberate inauguration on March 11, 2026.

The promise of an iron fist

In phrases of safety, Kast promised radical measures impressed by the Salvadoran mannequin of Nayib Bukele. “Do you know what the homicide rate is today in El Salvador, including femicide and family disputes? Zero, almost zero,” he mentioned throughout a debate. “All Chileans, if they were to vote today and Bukele was on the ballot, would elect Bukele. » His program notably provides for prison reform with “high security prisons where the leaders of organized crime on one side and foreigners on the other are totally isolated”. He additionally guarantees an “unprecedented” army and police deployment to fight drug trafficking. “We have a reality from the point of view of drug trafficking that we did not know and a government which has not been capable of confronting this situation,” he insists.

On immigration, the long run president makes the full closure of borders his prime precedence. “Chile is the country with the highest rate of illegal immigration in all of Latin America,” he says. His resolution? A “program of total border closure, physical closure, but also closure of all types of services for illegal immigrants”. It gives for the development of a 5 meter excessive “wall” and the switch of undocumented foreigners to internment facilities close to the border to arrange for his or her “immediate expulsion”.

The actuality, nevertheless, is extra advanced: 1000’s of Venezuelans traveled 5,000 kilometers on foot to flee the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro and enter northern Chile by way of Colchane then the coastal metropolis of Iquique. The similar goes for Bolivians dissatisfied by the left of Evo Morales and Luis Arce and in search of higher dwelling situations.

An assumed social conservatism

On social points, José Antonio Kast cultivates a picture of guardian of conventional values ​​which suffers from no ambiguity. This Catholic and father of 9 kids is fiercely against abortion. An lively member of the worldwide group Political Network for Values, he campaigns for “the protection of human life, traditional marriage, the family and religious freedom”.

The chief of the Republican Party additionally desires to reintroduce spiritual schooling in colleges, contemplating that “Chileans need God”. On the query of gay marriage and same-sex adoption, his place stays that of whole opposition which he justifies by his conventional imaginative and prescient of the household. A positioning which, removed from serving him, resonated with a part of the Chilean voters disoriented by the speedy societal transformations of latest years.

The battle for six billion {dollars}

On the financial degree, Kast is impressed by the “chainsaw” of the Argentinian Javier Milei to suggest a radical program. “We are planning a $6 billion tax adjustment in a year and a half. It will be focused mainly on political spending, not on social spending,” he guarantees. The elected president targets particularly the civil service, which has “more than a million civil servants” of whom the Minister of Finance himself “does not even know who they are and to whom they pay salaries”. He additionally factors out fraud in social advantages, significantly within the sick depart system which might price the State “nearly 700 million dollars”.

During the marketing campaign, this promise of finances cuts brought on sturdy tensions with the outgoing authorities. Presenting his 2026 finances proposal, President Boric described “the proposal to reduce spending by $6,000 million without saying where the cuts will come from” as “irresponsible and undesirable”. Questioned a number of occasions in the course of the debates, Kast systematically averted detailing his cuts. “Why don’t you now tell all the Chileans from north to south who are listening to you where you’re going to get the money from? », Jara challenged him during the debate on December 3. Without responding directly, Kast simply said that he would work “for the emergencies” of residents.

The President’s Challenges

José Antonio Kast will take workplace on March 11, 2026 in a fragmented political context. If his Republican Party and its allies have 42 deputies, and the normal proper has 34, they don’t maintain an absolute majority within the Chamber of Deputies (155 seats). The left-wing coalition retains 61 elected officers. In the Senate, the right-wing obtained half of the seats (25 out of fifty) in the course of the legislative elections of November 16.

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The new president will due to this fact have to barter a minimal to go his reforms. His program of closing borders and radical tax adjustment dangers encountering sturdy opposition, not solely from the left but in addition from a part of the normal proper which fears the financial and social penalties of overly brutal measures. On the worldwide degree, Kast will even should handle relations with neighboring international locations, particularly Peru the place the migration state of affairs on the border has change into tense in latest weeks, Lima having declared a state of emergency within the face of the inflow of migrants making an attempt to go away Chile.

Finally, the president-elect must reassure monetary markets and international traders. Chile, the world’s main producer of copper and with important lithium assets, skilled development of two.5% in 2024 after a sluggish 2023 (0.5%). Kast guarantees to spice up this development. “Chileans need order, justice and above all peace,” insists the person who now presents himself because the candidate of “progress” somewhat than the far proper. In a rustic marked by the failure of two constitutional processes and the frustration of the mandate of the younger left-wing president Gabriel Boric, this speech hit the mark. It stays to be seen whether or not “Sheriff” Kast will handle to maintain his guarantees with out additional fracturing an already divided Chilean society.