<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Spanish government has congratulated far-right candidate José Antonio Kast on his victory in the Chilean presidential elections and expressed its “willingness to work closely with his government.”</strong></h4> “The government congratulates José Antonio Kast as the next president of Chile and expresses its willingness to work closely with his government to continue strengthening the friendship between our peoples and the strategic relationship between both countries for the benefit of our citizens and the prosperity of the Ibero-American region,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in a press release on Monday, December 15. For his part, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares congratulated Kast and assured the press before the meeting with his EU counterparts in Brussels that, “of course, the Spanish Government is prepared, and this is our will, to work as closely as possible, as we did with the previous Government, with the new Government of Chile, for the benefit of friendship and brotherhood, because the ties we have with the Chilean people, as with all the countries of Latin America, are fraternal ties and also for the benefit of the progress of the Ibero-American community.” José Antonio Kast, leader of the far-right Republican Party, won the second round of the Chilean presidential elections with 58.1 percent of the vote, compared to 41.8 percent for the communist candidate Jeannette Jara. This is the worst result for the left since the restoration of democracy in 1990 and the first time a far-right candidate has won the presidency in an election. In 1988, Kast voted Yes in the referendum on the continuation of César Augusto Pinochet's dictatorial regime. Since 2006, no president has been replaced in an election by a candidate from their own party. In this case, the outgoing president is the leftist Gabriel Boric, who, in his first speech after the election results, expressed his “great pride in democracy, regardless of who celebrates or who is saddened by today's outcome,” and invited his successor (whom he himself had defeated in the 2021 presidential election) to “build bridges and listen.” For his part, Kast pledged to be “the president of all Chileans” and to “restore respect for the rule of law throughout the country, without exceptions, without privileges.” In Spain, the leader of the People's Party (PP), Alberto Núñez Feijóo, congratulated José Antonio Kast on his "overwhelming victory" and declared, via social media, that "the Chilean people have chosen freedom." Meanwhile, the leader of the far-right Vox party, Santiago Abascal, celebrated the victory of his "dear friend and ally" and congratulated the Chilean people "for having opted, with a clear and overwhelming decision, for truth, freedom, and prosperity."
