“Thank God and long live Chile!” said José Antonio Kast at the end of the eagerly awaited election day speech at the Republican Party headquarters. The stage was set up in the courtyard of an old and traditional house in Las Condes – one of Santiago’s most affluent neighborhoods – where some 250 supporters of the far-right group celebrated last night a historic election result that doesn’t even expect the most optimistic, just a few hours before .
Even in sunlight, the first Republicans — coming from different sectors of Santiago, from children to the elderly, although young people in their 20s and 30s predominated — began to appear after five in the afternoon. Almost silently, they arrived with Chilean flags, banners with the words Refresh, Recover, Rebuild; while the most daring wore tight Lycra shirts printed with the muscular torso of comic book character Captain America: the Marvel superhero’s shield closely resembles a logo of this political force.
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At six o’clock in the evening, as the autumn afternoon chill set in, no one except Ruth Hurtado, the party’s general secretary, spoke of “beatings.” On the other hand, the 40-year-old leader preferred to point out that in La Araucanía – a region 650 kilometers south of Santiago and which she represented as conventional in the first constituent process – there had been a “violent” morning, with barricades and stoning of buses transporting people to polling stations.
José Antonio Kast celebrates the result of the elections this Sunday at the Republican Party headquarters in Santiago Sofía Yanjarí
The mood changed when the television networks began broadcasting live counts of the first tables, which immediately marked a positive development for Republicans.
“Today we celebrate,” shouted a fighter, who entered wrapped in a two-meter flag, as the first honks of cars could be heard outside, passing in front of the house, flanked by half a dozen trucks Antennas broadcasting live the first official reactions of the main figures of the party.
In front of twenty cameras, the senator and one of the emblematic faces of the community, Rojo Edwards, said: “One must be calm when defeated and humble when triumphant.”
When asked about a target for elected candidates, Edwards responded calmly and contentedly with the possibility that Republicans would add five council members for Congress, which begins work on June 7. “If there are more, they are welcome,” Edwards finished.
It was 6.45 p.m., and at that point one of those five members of the convention was certainly the constitutional attorney Luis Silva, who stood confidently in front of the microphones and said: “There is talk of five directors, but we hope that there will be more”, highlighting that the results were the result of long-term work started by José Antonio Kast in 2017 when he ran for La Moneda as an independent before founding the party in 2019.
Members of the Republican Party wave Chilean flags after the release of the results of this Sunday’s Sofía Yanjarí election
“We are far from boycotting this process and renouncing the principles that have shaped us, which are not a novelty or a secret to anyone,” commented Silva, who, over the hours, would receive the most votes in the country, by catching just over 700,000 votes in the metropolitan area and pulverizing the forecasts of various polls.
By 7:30 p.m., no one doubted a devastating victory at Republican headquarters, and Chilean flags waved in the main patio of the House while dozens sang a campaign song entitled “The Rhythm of Reconstruction,” whose chorus is, “Rebuild this country… together / Recover… peace and tranquility / Refresh… we will give new faces / Re-Re-Re-Re Republicanos”, a mixture of pop and urban sounds.
“It’s a real party at this time,” a TV reporter described live. “You can see the effervescence that reigns in this place. I think they expected a good result here but the truth is they are surprised themselves.”
One of those amazed was Ives Arancibia, 34, a creative advisor on Luis Silva’s campaign. “People want to go back to order, like everything was before the criminal outbreak of October 18,” he justified the triumph of the community, alluding to the social revolt of 2019.
Supporters of the Republican Party celebrate their victory in the elections for the constituent process Sofía Yanjarí
“I think this is a vote to punish the Boric government,” said José Hidalgo, 61, a new party fighter, who attributed the success to the party’s ability to “interpret the real problems facing Chileans today: crime, terrorism in of the Araucania region and unleashed immigration in the north”.
Although migration issues are a central part of the party’s discourse, several migrants also celebrated locally, such as 58-year-old Venezuelan Yvel Fernández. From Maracaibo she came to Santiago in 2019, “fleeing from a country that was being killed at every turn for stealing a mobile phone”. Given the migratory challenges facing Chile and the tough position of the Republican Party, Fernández said he agrees, arguing that immigrants “should be classified to find out who’s who and bring back those who commit crimes”.
At nine o’clock sharp, the most important moment of the evening began with Kast’s appearance on stage. “Very good evening, Republicans,” said the leader of the group, in a mood far removed from the prevailing triumphalism. Kast struck a serious, almost laconic tone from the opening lines of his speech, saying that Chileans today are overwhelmed by economic insecurity and security problems, only to later describe the Boric administration as “unable” to resolve them .
“Chile defeated a failed government,” Kast said as he finished his speech. “Today is the first day of a brighter future for our country. A fresh start for Chile. Today we will start rebuilding and take back our beloved country.”
The crowd of Republicans, already looking forward to the 2025 presidential campaign, broke out in applause and ended the night by shouting, “It feels, it feels, Kast Presidente… It feels, it feels, Kast Presidente…”.