Ultra-conservative José Antonio Kast won Chile’s presidency by a landslide Sunday, harnessing voter anger over crime and migration to drive the country into its most dramatic rightward shift in decades.

With nearly 100% of ballots counted, Kast received 58% of the vote, followed by leftist Jeannette Jara with 42%, according to electoral body Servel. He swept all 16 regions of Chile.

“Changes will start immediately,” Kast said in his victory speech at his headquarters in Santiago’s tony business district of Las Condes, where for hours drivers waved Chilean flags from their windows and honked horns in celebration. But “it will require perseverance.”

The former lawmaker and son of German post-war immigrants will take office on March 11, having vowed an “emergency government” to swiftly crack down on irregular migration, while cutting taxes and public spending.

Kast struck a conciliatory tone, reaching out to the opposition by saying they need each other to tackle organized crime and other problems. “Chile will again be free of crime, free of anguish, free of fear.”

He warned of “a very tough year because the country’s finances are not in good shape.” Chile, one of Latin America’s richest countries and the world’s top copper producer, has endured uncertainty under outgoing leftist President Gabriel Boric and over a decade of sluggish economic growth.

Kast also toned down the anti-migrant rhetoric he employed on the campaign trail, distinguishing between those such as foreign doctors who are working to help Chile versus those who are undocumented.

“Don’t ask us, those undocumented migrants, to spend all our social funds on you. We’re a welcoming country. We want to receive you, but only if you abide by the law,” he said. “Anyone who doesn’t obey the law has to leave.”

Passions were running high at each candidates’ headquarters as the night wore on, with hate-filled rhetoric heard on both sides. There were Nazi references echoing through the pro-Jara crowd, and anti-communist slogans billowing through Kast’s. When the crowd booed Jara, Kast called on his supporters to be quiet and respectful of the opposition.

Challenges Ahead

From day one, Kast, 59 and father of nine, will face steep challenges, including a divided Congress and widespread demands for quick results.

“It’s crucial that Kast starts working tomorrow,” said Klaus Kaempfe, head of investments at Credicorp Capital. “He has little time before the honeymoon ends.”

Investors for months have cheered on Kast’s win in the runoff — with bond spreads to US Treasuries at levels not seen since before the 2008 global financial crisis, stocks at record highs and the cost of insuring Chilean debt against default back to pre-pandemic levels. The peso has appreciated almost 10% this year. Markets rallied on Friday in anticipation of Kast’s victory, and are expected to extend gains on Monday.

“Society’s support for pro-growth and public safety should maintain a positive bias for Chilean assets, especially in the context of historically favorable terms of trade and an improving investment outlook,” said Andres Perez, chief economist for Latin America at Banco Itau.

What Bloomberg Economics says

Kaempfe said the benchmark IPSA stock market index “could jump another 3% on the elections, but it needs additional measures and a cabinet to continue rising.”

Investors are counting on Kast to reinvigorate Chile’s economy. He has pledged to cut the corporate tax rate for medium and large companies to 23% from 27%, accelerate economic expansion to 4% from roughly 2.5% now, and streamline regulations.

One of his boldest and most controversial proposals is a pledge to cut $6 billion in public spending within 18 months without reducing social benefits. Critics say the plan is technically unrealistic and unlikely to pass a fragmented Congress, highlighting what many see as Kast’s biggest political handicap: limited experience negotiating outside his inner circle.

“He isn’t someone with well-developed negotiation skills,” said Axel Callis, a sociologist and director of pollster Tuinfluyes.com. “In this sense, he is going to have difficulties.”

Kast also risks overestimating popular support for extreme measures, as Boric did when he took power in 2022.

“Four years ago Boric won by a majority as well, but he misread the mandate and attempted to implement reforms that were too radical,” said Patricio Navia, a political science professor at New York University.

Right-wing orbit

Regionally, Kast’s triumph represents the latest rebuke of the left in Latin America after Javier Milei’s party won midterm elections in Argentina and Rodrigo Paz ended 20 years of socialist rule in Bolivia. Voters in Peru, Colombia and Brazil go to the polls next year.

In contrast to Boric who publicly criticized US President Donald Trump, Chile is now emerging as another US ally in a region that has increasingly tilted toward China in recent decades. China is Chile’s top trading partner.

In a post on X, Sunday Milei said he was sure he would work with Kast to help “America embrace ideas of liberty and to free ourselves from the oppressive yoke of socialism.” He later shared a map showing a broadly divided continent.

His win marks the start of a new political cycle “defined fundamentally by the rationale of change,” said Marco Moreno, director of the Center of Democracy and Public Opinion at Chile’s Central University. Kast’s administration will be driven by efforts to “confront a public security crisis with much harsher and more restrictive measures, and also migration.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US looks forward to fortifying its commercial ties with Chile, and lauded their shared priorities of “strengthening public security” and “ending illegal immigration.”

Though Kast shies away from comparisons, his agenda will align Chile with other global right-wing administrations. In recent years, he has visited with Italian leader Giorgia Meloni, El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele and Hungary’s Viktor Orban. He’s also defended Brazil’s former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted of plotting a coup after his 2022 election defeat.

Kast had toned down his conservative social rhetoric on the campaign trail this year, particularly on issues such as abortion that had alienated moderates during his two previous runs.

“Kast’s election underscores the depth of Chile’s crisis of confidence in political institutions,” said Peter Siavelis, a politics professor at Wake Forest University. “The result is best understood as another expression of distrust toward political elites and governing arrangements, rather than a mandate for a conservative transformation of Chilean society.”

Kast’s tight-knit team includes figures from outside Chile’s technocratic establishment. Loyalists expected to play key roles include chief economic adviser Jorge Quiroz, economist Bernardo Fontaine, former congressman Rodrigo Álvarez and businessman Alejandro Irarrázaval. After advancing to the runoff last month, Kast also secured backing from prominent economists who had supported center-right rival Evelyn Matthei.

A trained lawyer who founded Chile’s Republican Party and served 16 years in the lower house, Kast has no executive branch experience. Still, he has criss-crossed Chile for more than a decade and knows the people’s priorities better than anyone, adviser Ivan Poduje said in an interview last month.

“Democracy spoke loud and clear,” Jara said in a post on X, conceding the race. A member of Chile’s century-old Communist Party since she was 14, she led a coalition of left and center-left parties to take on Kast, with a focus on social issues and security. She is now positioned to lead the country’s leftist opposition.

This was Chile’s first presidential election under new rules requiring all adults, including legal permanent residents of at least five years, to vote.

Earlier, Kast and Boric held a traditional televised phone call, underscoring Chile’s record of peaceful transfers of power since the restoration of democracy in 1990, following the 17-year dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Kast and Boric will meet Monday at the presidential palace.

_____

©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.