SANTIAGO: After his victory Sunday, Chile's hard-right president-elect Jose Antonio Kast, will inherit a stalled economy, high crime rates and a fractured congress.
Here are the main challenges facing the 59-year-old veteran politico when he takes office on March 11.
- Crime and punishment -
Although Chile is among Latin America's safest countries, crime is a top concern, and a concern that Kast has promised to solve.
But he will have to contend with a plethora of transnational gangs like Venezuela's Tren de Aragua, who arrived in Chile hoping to expand their business.
As a result, the homicide rate rose 140 percent in the past decade before stabilizing. Kidnappings also surged.
Kast plans a frontal attack on organized crime and drug trafficking, mass expulsions of undocumented migrants, more police firepower, and military deployment in critical areas.
His anti-immigration plan, which opponents call unrealistic, involves inviting undocumented migrants to leave. Kast has said he rejects raids, like those carried out in the United States under the administration of President Donald Trump.
"If migration doesn't decrease and insecurity perception doesn't improve, it could blow up in his face (…) He may face a very complex scenario if results don't come quickly,” said Alejandro Olivares, political analyst at the University of Chile.
- It's the economy... -
Kast has said that within 18 months he will reduce public spending by $6 billion.
But he has given few details about how this would be done and how he would avoid sparking a recession.
"There will be cuts to shrink the state, similar to those seen in other regional countries," said Stephanie Alenda, researcher at Andrés Bello University.
Kast said he wants to boost investment through lower taxes and fewer regulations, aiming for four percent annual growth, above 2024's rate of 2.6 percent.
- Tax cuts -
Though the right holds a parliamentary majority, Kast may need center-left votes, especially in the Senate, if he wants to pass legislation.
It would be a change in course for his Republican Party who, during its six-year history, has shunned deals with the government and traditional right -- which he has dubbed the "cowardly right."
"Most reforms he seeks will necessarily go through Congress," warns Rodrigo Arellano, political analyst at the Development University.
"They'll try to block us. But we'll fight for Chile's destiny," Kast said at his last campaign rally, sounding less than conciliatory.
- Street opposition -
Kast's defense of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship has turbocharged the opposition against him
He has previously criticized memorials for victims but avoided such topics during the campaign.
He has also quieted his ultraconservative agenda against abortion and same-sex marriage.
However, he is willing to consider pardons for human rights violators.
"He'll confront street opposition, unions, students, and we'll see how he handles it," said Roberto Funk, political scientist at the University of Chile.
