Chile elected its most right-wing president in 35 years of democracy on Sunday as arch-conservative Jose Antonio Kast scored a thumping victory over his leftist run-off rival.
Kast won some 58 percent of the vote and held an unassailable lead over Jeannette Jara, the Partido Comunista de Chile candidate who headed a broad leftist coalition.
Chile’s new president-elect campaigned on a promise to expel more than 300,000 immigrants, seal the northern border, take a "firm hand" on near-record crime rates and restart the stalled economy.
"Chile wanted change" Kast told thousands of elated supporters Sunday evening, vowing to "restore respect for the law," while pledging to govern for all Chileans and to listen to critics.
Once one of the Americas safest countries, Chile was hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, violent social protests and an influx of foreign organised crime groups.
In Santiago, Kast supporters beeped car horns, waved flags and cheered a man who has repeatedly defended the bloody dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
Retiree Gina Mello hoped Kast would "deploy the military" to the streets from day one, "lock up all the drug-traffickers and depo
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