Pendulum effect: the far right sweeps the Chilean presidential elections

Special correspondent in Santiago, ChileThe far right is celebrating in Chile. José Antonio Kast He achieved a resounding victory this Sunday, with 58.1% of the vote, compared to the progressive candidate Jeannette Jara, who only managed 41.8% of the support, a result quite close to what the polls predicted. Voter turnout was extremely high, at 85%, because voting was once again mandatory in the country. The celebration at Kast's party headquarters in Santiago was monumental, and Jara—a member of the Communist Party, with a center-left platform—immediately posted a tweet announcing that she had already spoken with Kast by phone to congratulate him. In his first speech as president-elect, Kast reinforced the key points of his platform: public safety, immigration control, and the fight against drug trafficking, and promised that Chile "will once again be free from crime, anguish, and fear." Jara responded: "In everything that is good for Chile, you will find my support," she said, "and in anything that could set us back, you will find a firm, democratic and responsible opposition."

Kast has justified the 1973 military coup led by Augusto Pinochet against the government of Salvador Allende, as well as the human rights violations perpetrated afterward during the dictatorship. He is the most far-right president Chile has had since the return to democracy, succeeding the progressive Gabriel Boric, considered "too extreme." woke"by some of his own voters, and he has made more promises than he has been able to keep. It is the phenomenon of the Chilean pendulum, according to which for twenty years the transfer of power has never been to a successor of the same political persuasion because citizens vote more out of punishment than affinity, in an alternation of power that, according to political scientist Javiera Arce, "Boric rushed to establish brands such as 'feminist government' or 'environmentalist government' before crystallizing this into public policies, apart from the fact that his governing coalition did not work and that he never responded to deeply felt demands of thepop social".

In 2019, a series of grievances related to social inequality and a high cost of living culminated in a wave of massive protests in Chile, which were harshly repressed by the government of Sebastián Piñera. The so-called pop This event signaled the end of the consensus surrounding the democratic transition, but with the election of Boric—a young man who promoted dialogue and offered a fresh perspective on progressivism—it was hoped that the demands that had led to this social upheaval could be channeled institutionally, something that ultimately did not happen. Subsequently, two constituent processes were initiated with the aim of changing the 1980 Constitution: both were rejected by a majority, one for being too progressive, and the other for being too conservative. The result is that, today in Chile, the Magna Carta of the Pinochet regime remains in force.

The debate on insecurity

Successfully linking insecurity and irregular immigration, central themes of his campaign, José Antonio Kast has seduced most Chileans With a hardline proposal, increased border control, and the expulsion of undocumented immigrants from Chile. "Most of the migrants who have come to Chile haven't come to commit crimes but to work," says Raúl, a 33-year-old Colombian nurse who has lived in Chile for eight years and who, despite having his papers in order, fears for friends and family who don't, and that's why he voted for Jeannette Jara. Eliana, a 75-year-old Venezuelan who arrived in Chile 11 years ago, acknowledges that she "understands" Kast's proposal, for whom she decided to vote, especially because "you have to adapt to the country you arrive in, not expect the country to adapt to you," and because Jara's "communist" label put her off. "I don't want to relive here what we experienced with Chávez and Maduro there," she concludes.

Regarding the rise in crime, perceptions are mixed: some citizens have changed their habits, avoiding going out after dark. Others, however, believe that "it's all an exaggeration" and point out that, although insecurity has increased, "Chile remains one of the safest countries in Latin America." But Kast insisted on the construction of maximum-security prisons, harsher penalties for members of criminal gangs, and a review of the application of self-defense, among other measures: "Chile is working in reverse: criminals are free and honest citizens live locked up," he said during his campaign.

A program of cuts

In his first 18 months in La Moneda, José Antonio Kast has promised a major fiscal cut of $6 billion in public spending, though he has not yet detailed how he plans to implement it. One of his critics' main concerns is that he will eliminate the increase in the Guaranteed Universal Pension (PGU) promoted by his predecessor, Gabriel Boric, which, according to Claudia, a 42-year-old social researcher recovering from a life-threatening illness, "has improved the lives of many elderly people." He also faces cuts to healthcare treatments, as well as funding for culture and gender-focused policies, which Kast calls "ideological public spending." A staunch Catholic, Kast opposes abortion, even in the three circumstances in which it is legal in Chile: rape, fetal inviability, or risk to the pregnant woman's life.

Dolores, 78, went to vote this Sunday at the National Stadium, which during the dictatorship was a detention and torture center, later converted into a memorial space and public facility and, on election days, a polling station: "I woke up very sad and anxious today, because I keep thinking: Will my grandchildren live? Will they live in that place where people were killed for thinking differently?"