José Antonio Kast He closed his campaign last night at the Movistar Arena in Santiago, heading to the presidential elections on Sunday, November 16 in Chile, where more than 15 million citizens will choose the successor of Gabriel Boric. Eight candidates compete for the Presidency, and Kast, leader of the Republican Party, seeks to reach the runoff and confront the ruling party.
This Tuesday, the presidential candidate held the closing ceremony before an audience that the command estimated at about 14,000 people. The event had an atypical format for Chile: a full venue, large stage set-up, screens and a staging that some media compared to American-style rallies or that used by Javier Milei last month, before the October 26 election. Although the veteran lawyer did not sing, other artists did it for him.
The event began with a previous atmosphere of music and video. According to the chronicle of The Countryclips were shown where Kast appears alongside members of the Chilean Carabineros and where his demand for border closures for irregular migrants is shown. Kast took the stage around 9pm, accompanied by his wife, Pia Adriasola. In parallel, local artists were included Zúmbale Primo, Los Viking’s 5 and Américo as part of the closing show.
The stage, the waved Chilean flags, the dedicated audience and the explicit calls to “recover the country” created an atmosphere of a political rally rather than a traditional closing. For his part, the Chilean leader focused his speech on three main axes: citizen security, irregular migration and criticism of the current government of President Gabriel Boric and the leftist candidate, Jeannette Jara. “We want a country where the criminal is afraid and the citizen walks free. Without order there is no freedom, and without freedom there is no future,” he attacked.
He also appealed for the continuity of his candidacy in reference to his previous presidential attempts (2017 and 2021). In his closing, he thanked his young followers, his campaign teams and left the message that the “second stage” was beginning: the eventual second round on December 14 and, if victorious, the government from March 2026.
According to the latest analysis of the average of polls prelude to the electoral ban: the official candidate Jeannette Jara leads with around 28.5% of voting intention, while Kast appears in second place with approximately 19.9%. This context suggests that none of the candidates will gather more than 50% in the first round, so victory would be played in a second round. From the Republican command, it is taken for granted to enter that runoff and project a victory there.
The closing of José Antonio Kast’s campaign at the Movistar Arena combined entertainment, music and politics in a format with a large audience, with a message of security, order and radical change compared to the model represented by the left. Although his campaign managed to fill the venue and generate media attention, his support in the polls remains behind Jara, which means that his strategy is clearly oriented towards the runoff and not a victory in the first round.
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