Landslide Win for Kast Gives Chile Its Most Right-Wing President in Decades

Chile’s presidential candidate Jose Antonio Kast, of the Partido Republicano party, gives a speech as he celebrates the results of the presidential runoff election in Santiago on December 14, 2025. Chilean voters elected Jose Antonio Kast, the most right-wing president in 35 years of democracy, with a thumping 58 percent of votes and his rival Jeannette Jara conceding defeat, according to official results on December 14, 2025. (Photo by Eitan ABRAMOVICH / AFP via Getty Images)

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chile’s ultra-conservative former lawmaker José Antonio Kast has secured a stunning victory in the presidential election, defeating the candidate of the center-left governing coalition and setting the stage for the country’s most right-wing government in 35 years of democracy. Kast won 58.2% of the votes on Sunday as Chileans overwhelmingly embraced his pledge to crack down on increased crime, deport hundreds of thousands of immigrants without legal status and revive the sluggish economy of one of Latin America’s most stable and prosperous nations. His challenger, communist candidate Jeannette Jara, clinched 41.8%. Kast’s election represents the latest in a string of elections that have turfed out incumbents across Latin America, vaulting the right wing to power.