Chile Elects Most Right-Wing President of Post-Pinochet Era

Chileans on dominicus elected their to the highest degree right-wing chairman in a multiplication, with hard-line conservative José Antonio Kast winning easily after vowing to clamp down on crime and illegal immigration.

Kast’s victory over Jeannette Jara, a Communist, adds to a wave of electoral wins by right-wing politicians across Latin America, giving President Trump new allies who are on board with his anti-migrant policies.

Jara conceded with over 80% of the ballots counted. Kast won with 58% of the votes in one of the most lopsided presidential victories since Chile’s return to democracy in 1990.

“It bodes well for the bolstering of this kind of right-wing network through the Americas,” said Jennifer Pribble, a political scientist and Latin America expert at the University of Richmond. “Trump’s next natural ally will be Kast in Chile.”

Kast overcame concerns about his support for the right-wing military dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, who laid the foundation for Chile’s free-market development but also was responsible for the torture, disappearances and deaths of political opponents. Kast has said he didn’t support the military’s human-rights violations during Pinochet’s 17-year rule.

Kast, 59 years old, will take office in March, leading a major mining nation that is the world’s top producer of copper and second biggest producer of lithium, crucial components for renewable energies.

It was the third presidential bid for Kast, a lawyer and former legislator. This time, the devout Catholic and father of nine avoided discussing social issues that had put off Chileans in previous presidential bids. That includes his opposition to same-sex marriage and support for outlawing abortion.

Instead, Kast vowed to tackle crime, a top concern for Chileans accustomed to living in one of Latin America’s safest nations. Many Chileans blame violent carjackings, kidnappings and daylight shootouts on an influx of illegal immigration, mainly Venezuelans fleeing their nation’s economic collapse. Officials have said criminal gangs that arrived with regular migrants are responsible for increased violence.

Foreign-born residents now make up close to 10% of Chile’s population, one of the highest levels in Latin America, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In 2010, it was just 2.1%.

Kast said his government would detain and deport undocumented migrants. He has vowed to build 16-foot walls and 10-foot trenches to lock down Chile’s northern desert borders with Peru and Bolivia. He has said he would send soldiers to patrol the border along with heat-sensing drones.

Immigrants already in Chile illegally would be barred from working, using public services or sending money back home, Kast said.

“Chile will no longer be the paradise of illegals,” he said earlier this year. “We aren’t going to make life easy for them; we’re going to make it impossible.”

Elizabeth Fernández, a 51-year-old in Santiago, supports that kind of tough approach, saying she worries about an increase in violent assaults and kidnappings that, while common in places like Brazil and Mexico, were a rarity in Chile.

“That scares me, seeing on TV that there are more kidnappings,” she said. “Kast wants to control migration and insecurity, and we need someone with a tough hand like him.

Some 63% of Chileans now say crime and violence are major concerns, the second-highest share after Peru in an Ipsos poll of 30 countries last month.

Rodolfo Carter, an incoming senator from Kast’s Republican Party, said focusing on stopping illegal immigration and crime would also help restore economic growth that has slowed to little more than 2% annually in recent years, down from more than 6% for much of the 1990s.

“Without security in the streets, without certainty, without tranquility, there is no investment,” Carter said. “And without investment, there is no employment, and without employment, there is no money in citizens’ pockets.”

Kast has called for lower corporate taxes and curbing regulations to attract investments. He has also pledged to slash $6 billion in public spending, equivalent to about 2% of economic output, in his first 18 months.

Kast has said he would also continue to support free trade, holding up Chile’s economic success on the back of trade as a model even as the U.S. And other countries put up barriers.

Carter said Kast, like other right-wing Latin American rulers, would seek closer relations with the U.S. While maintaining strong commercial ties with China, Chile’s top trade partner and an important source of investments.

“Culturally, our home is in the West, and in the West, the United States is our primary ally,” Carter said.

Write to Ryan Dubé at ryan.dube@wsj.com

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