Chile elects a far-right candidate, what happens next?

Image - Matías Villacura

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On 14 December, Chileans headed to the ballot box to elect their next president until 2030. The election was contested between left-wing, Communist Party member Jeanette Jara and far-right José Antonio Kast, a member of the Republican Party. This was the second time these candidates confronted each other, as they both achieved first and second place respectively during the first round a month earlier. On this occasion, the candidate on the right emerged victorious, securing 58% of the vote in a campaign in which crime and immigration remained voters’ main concerns.

The victory coincides with a recent rightward shift across Latin America, joining Argentina, Ecuador, and most recently Bolivia. Alongside this is a regional swing towards “hard-line security measures”, mirroring the extreme policies implemented by Nayib Bukele in El Salvador. This has sparked concerns about the state of democracy in the region, and about a new right lacking “any democratic credentials” and showing little consideration for human rights violations.

Kast was born in 1966 to German parents who migrated to Chile after WWII due to their affiliations with the Nazi Party. He was raised a Catholic, holding extremely conservative views on topics such as abortion and same-sex marriage. Apart from his admiration for traditional values, he is also an avid supporter of Augusto Pinochet, Chile’s brutal dictator who ruled the country for 17 years following a military coup in 1973. Under his regime, an estimated 40,000 people were tortured and more than 3,000 murdered. Tragically, the many individuals involved in this disastrous violation of human rights are now expected to be pardoned as Kast enters the presidency.

Kast is the first president since the end of the military regime to openly support Pinochet. Even Sebastián Piñera (Chile’s only right-wing president since the return to democracy) held somewhat progressive social views on topics like same-sex marriage. Kastalso defended the Sí (yes) campaign in the 1988 referendum, which sought to vote in favour of Pinochet prolonging his rule.

Despite his overwhelming majority in this election, he had been unsuccessful on several past occasions. This is in fact his third time running as president. He failed to advance to the second round in 2017 after scoring a mere 8% during the first round. He then performed significantly better in 2021, making him face current president Gabriel Boric in the second round, earning 44% of the electorate.

Boric (ineligible to run in 2025 under Chilean law) had become increasingly unpopular throughout his four years in the presidency. After becoming the youngest-ever president of the republic, he was guided by a progressive framework aimed at burying Pinochet’s legacy and the neo-liberalism that has characterised Chile’s economy for decades. He also promised to decentralise the country, improve welfare, increase public spending and include women, LGBTQ+ members and Indigenous peoples in government like never before. However, millions across the country began showing frustration with the former student leader due to spikes in crime and illegal immigration, as well as an economic slowdown. By the end of 2025, his approval ratings struggled to exceed 30%.

Unsatisfied with the incumbent government, many saw the Communist candidate Jeanette Jara (also the current labour minister) as a continuation of Boric and thus the status quo. For others, the thought of voting for a Communist candidate was simply never on their agenda. Even some immigrants openly spoke out about their support for Kast in this election, claiming that militarising the borders and deporting all illegal immigrants could reduce organised crime. “The good ones can stay, but the bad ones have to go…they make us all look bad” claimed Virginia Peredo, a Bolivian immigrant who has lived in the country for 10 years.

Despite growing rates in organised crime, Chile remains one of the safest countries in Latin America. The homicide rate in 2024 was roughly 6 per 100,000 people, a stark contrast to countries like Ecuador with figures approaching 46 per 100,000. Still, nearly 88% of Chileans feel crime has gotten worse over the last year, and the vast majority fears travelling to dense, urban centres, especially at night. This perceived fear regarding crime and gang violence is what Kast has been able to exploit most amongst his voters.

So, what is it that Kast proposes to tackle all of these problems? His first rhetoric centres on public safety, promising to take an iron-fist approach to organised crime similar to Bukele’s crackdown on gangs in El Salvador. He argues he will send the military to areas with the highest levels of crime, and has pledged to build more prisons than ever. His second main concern is on immigration. Taking inspiration from Donald Trump’s large-scale deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), he is planning to carry out a similar deportation programme to deal with illegal and undocumented migrants.

These hard-line policies depict him as a radical right-winger; however, there is the threat that (just like Boric’s hard-left policies) he may struggle to generate popular support, prompting him to moderate himself towards the traditional right of presidents like Piñera rather than reflecting his initial ultra-nationalist tendencies.

So, what are the implications of Kast for the region and the rest of the world? He has already been praised by prominent right-wing figures including the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has vowed to strengthen regional security and revitalise their trade relationships. This could signal deeper US-Chileties and aid Trump in his ambition to increase American soft power in the region. Another key partner of his is Javier Milei, Argentina’s far-right president, who is exhilarated to form a right-wing coalition in Latin America to fight off the “oppressive yoke of 21^st century socialism”.

With 2026 being an election year for highly influential countries like Peru, Colombia and Brazil, it will be interesting to see how events unfold in a region increasingly more hostile to incumbent left-wing governments.