Chilean voters elected José Antonio Kast president on Sunday, delivering a commanding victory to the ultraconservative Republican Party leader and marking the country's most significant shift to the right since the end of military rule in 1990.

With more than 99% of ballots counted, Kast secured approximately 58% of the vote, defeating Communist Party candidate Jeannette Jara, who received roughly 41%. Jara, who served as labor minister under outgoing President Gabriel Boric, conceded shortly after polls closed.

"Democracy spoke loud and clear," Jara wrote on social media. "I have just spoken with President-elect Kast to wish him success for the good of Chile."

The 59-year-old Kast, a devout Catholic and father of nine, campaigned on promises to crack down on crime, deport hundreds of thousands of migrants without legal status and revive Chile's sluggish economy. His victory came on his third attempt at the presidency, four years after losing to Boric by nearly 10 percentage points.

"We will work relentlessly to restore peace, order, growth, and hope," Kast told supporters in Santiago after his victory was confirmed. "Chile will be free from crime again, free from anguish, free from fear."

Crime and immigration drive voter concerns

Once considered one of the safest and most prosperous countries in Latin America, Chile has been disrupted in recent years by the COVID-19 pandemic, violent social protests and a rise in organized crime. Polls show more than 60% of Chileans consider security the country's most pressing issue, far eclipsing concerns about the economy, healthcare or education.

Although Chile remains one of the safest countries in the region, violent crime has increased in certain areas over the past decade. Authorities have attributed the rise to gangs linked to Venezuela, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador that have capitalized on the country's porous northern desert borders, major international ports and a surge of migrants susceptible to human trafficking.

Migrants now account for roughly 10% of Chile's population, with the vast majority of those in the country illegally having arrived from Venezuela in recent years, according to government data.

Kast pledged throughout his campaign to secure Chile's borders and deport migrants who do not hold legal status. His security platform, dubbed the "Implacable Plan," proposes stiffer mandatory minimum sentencing, incarcerating more criminals in maximum security facilities and putting cartel leaders in "total isolation" to cut them off from communication with the outside world.

He also promised to establish a police force modeled after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to rapidly detain and expel migrants.

A controversial figure takes power

Kast will become the first president since Chile's return to democracy to openly support the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, who ruled from 1973 to 1990. His government was responsible for the killing or disappearance of more than 3,000 citizens and the torture of tens of thousands more.

Kast has repeatedly defended the Pinochet regime throughout his political career. He famously quipped of the former dictator: "If he were alive, he would vote for me."

His family background has also drawn scrutiny. Media investigations revealed that Kast's German-born father, Michael Kast, was a member of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party and served as a soldier in the German army during World War II before emigrating to Chile in 1950. Kast has maintained that his father was a forced conscript who did not support the Nazis.

The president-elect's moral conservatism, including fierce opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion without exception, was rejected by many voters during his two previous presidential bids. However, he largely avoided those issues during this campaign, focusing instead on security and migration.

Some critics have expressed concern that Kast's positions could signal a return to authoritarian practices.

"I'm fearful because I think we are going to have a lot of repression," said 71-year-old retiree Cecilia Mora, according to Agence France-Presse. "The candidate of the right reminds me a lot of the dictatorship. I see him as a Pinochet out of uniform."

Part of a regional trend

Kast's election represents the latest in a string of right-wing victories across Latin America. His triumph follows Javier Milei's party winning midterm elections in Argentina, Rodrigo Paz ending almost two decades of socialist rule in Bolivia, and Daniel Noboa's election in Ecuador.

The Trump administration was among the first to congratulate Kast.

"Under his leadership, we are confident Chile will advance shared priorities to include strengthening public security, ending illegal immigration, and revitalizing our commercial relationship," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement. "The United States looks forward to working closely with his administration to deepen our partnership and promote shared prosperity in our hemisphere."

Argentina's Milei hailed the result as proof that Latin America is casting off what he called "the oppressive shackles of 21st-century socialism."

Kast's victory also signals a rebuke of outgoing President Boric, whose approval rating had fallen to approximately 30% by the end of his four-year term. Boric's efforts to reform the Pinochet-era constitution repeatedly failed, and he was constitutionally barred from seeking re-election.

Challenges await the president-elect

Kast will take office on March 11, 2026, and has pledged an "emergency government" to swiftly address migration and crime. He has also promised to cut the corporate tax rate from 27% to 23%, accelerate economic growth to 4% from roughly 2.5%, and streamline regulations.

Among his most ambitious 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 Congress.

Kast faces a divided legislature that may blunt his more radical proposals. While right-wing parties gained seats in both chambers during November's general election, most of those gains came from more traditional parties rather than Kast's Republican Party. The Senate is evenly split between left-wing and right-wing parties, and the swing vote in the lower house belongs to the populist People's Party.

"It is clear that not everyone who voted for Kast is from his party. That is, much of his vote is borrowed," said Guillermo Holzmann, a political analyst at the University of Valparaíso.

Investors have responded positively to Kast's victory, with expectations of less regulation and market-friendly policies buoying the local stock market, peso and equity benchmark.

Sunday's vote marked the first presidential election with compulsory voting since 2012. Approximately 15.8 million Chileans were eligible to cast ballots.