Chile president-elect dials down right-wing rhetoric, vows unity / Photo: © AFP
Chile president-elect dials down right-wing rhetoric, vows unity
Chile's next president jettisoned his typical far-right anti-migrant rhetoric Monday and vowed to lead a government of "national unity" despite a landslide election victory.
Meeting the outgoing leftist president Gabriel Boric and rival party leaders, Jose Antonio Kast pledged to work for all Chileans when he takes office in March.
"We all share concerns about security, health, education and housing," the 59-year-old father of nine said.
On the campaign trail, Kast promised to deport more than 300,000 mostly Venezuelan migrants, to tackle crime and to secure the northern border.
But since winning against a leftist rival on Sunday, he has struck a more conciliatory tone.
"This is not one person's or one party's government. It will be broader to achieve consensus on fundamental issues," he said.
He won the backing of 58 percent of voters, in what could have been interpreted as a thumping mandate for radical change.
Amid fears about his past support for the blood-soaked dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, Kast also spoke about democracy and the need to "safeguard" institutions.
Despite his politics, he told Chileans, there would be "continuity of the state, continuity of its institutions, continuity of public service, and continuity of the democratic order."
While Chilean voters are often asked to choose between radical left and right alternatives, the country has proven itself to be centrist.
Chileans have alternated between left and right governments at every election since 2010.
On Tuesday, Kast is expected to travel to Buenos Aires, where he will meet firebrand libertarian leader Javier Milei.
But he got a frosty welcome from Colombia's leftist president Gustavo Petro, who called him "Hitler's son" adding that he would never "shake the hand of a Nazi and the son of a Nazi."
Media investigations have revealed his German-born father was a member of Adolf Hitler's Nazi party and a soldier during World War II.
Kast insists his father was a forced conscript and did not support the Nazis.
Chile's leftist government lodged a protest against Petro's "unacceptable" remarks on Monday.
The statements “constitute a lack of respect and an improper intrusion into domestic political affairs" foreign minister Alberto van Klaveren said.
"They denigrate not only the president-elect but also the sovereign decision of the people of Chile."
(L.Svenson--DTZ)
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