Kast’s Blast from the Past

CHILE - In Brief 12 Mar 2026 by Robert Funk

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José Antonio Kast has entered Chile’s presidential palace, becoming the first president since Carlos Ibañez del Camp, who left office in 1958, to make the Moneda palace the presidential residence. The move is meant to be a sign of austerity and offer the promise of hard work. Like much of Kast’s agenda, it also signals a return to the past. Chile enters this transition after a prolonged period of uncertainty that began with the 2019 social protests, continued through two failed constitutional reform processes, and unfolded under the inexperienced administration of Gabriel Boric. Political fragmentation, regulatory ambiguity, and declining investor confidence slowed investment in sectors ranging from mining to infrastructure. For many, Kast’s election represents an opportunity for Chile to restore policy predictability and institutional stability. To return to the past. To do so, he needs to get a lot done going forward. But like Boric, Kast faces a fragmented Congress and lacks the legislative dominance required to push through an uncompromising ideological agenda. Chile’s political system rewards coalition-building, and modern Chilean presidents have governed most successfully when acting as consensus builders. In his political career, we have seen an ideological Kast and a pragmatic Kast. We will see which one moves into the Moneda. One of the new president’s central priorities is economic reactivation combined with fiscal discipline. Although few believe that reducing US$6 billion in spending in the first 18 months is realistic – and Kast has said that Chile does not need the kind of ‘motosierra’ (chainsaw) approach the Milei used in Argentina – the general goal of ...