Far-right candidate Jose Antonio Kast elected Chile's new president

SANTIAGO -- Jose Antonio Kast, presidential candidate of the far-right Republican Party, won the Chilean presidential runoff election, becoming the country's new president, said the electoral authorities on Sunday.

According to Chile's Electoral Service, with 99.33 percent of the votes counted in the run-off, Kast won 58.18 percent, compared with 41.82 percent for Jeannette Jara, candidate of Chile's ruling left-wing coalition.

Jara conceded defeat to Kast and congratulated him on social media on Sunday. The current president, Gabriel Boric, also congratulated him on his victory.

Kast, 59, will take office on March 11, 2026. During the election campaign, he focused his policy efforts on public security, advocating building high-security prisons and increasing punishment for criminal groups to maintain law and order.

He also plans to deport illegal immigrants on a large scale and strengthen control over border areas.

The voting in the runoff began at 8 a.m. local time (1100 GMT) and ended at 6 pm (2100 GMT), with more than 15 million registered voters.

No candidate received more than 50 percent of the votes in the first round on Nov 16, which meant Jara and Kast, who had won 26.85 percent and 23.92 percent of the votes, respectively, advanced to the runoff.