Born in Santiago, Kast studied law at the city’s Catholic university and has been a politician for 30 years.
His legislative achievements were limited to passing laws allowing the construction of statues, granting a nun a Chilean passport and laws regulating lotteries.
A staunch Catholic, he broke from Chile’s mainstream conservative party in 2016 to found the more radical Republican Party.
He opposes abortion in cases of rape, and is against emergency contraception, divorce, same-sex marriage, and euthanasia.
He once forbade his lawyer wife, Maria Pia Adriasola, from using birth control pills.
He has also expressed admiration for the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, a general who was responsible for the deaths of more than 3000 Chileans.
The youngest of 10 siblings, he inherited a successful sausage business from his German immigrant parents.
His father is believed to have been a member of the Nazi Party and fought in World War II.
Kast has said it was a forced conscription, and he did not believe in Nazi ideology.
During the campaign, Kast has appeared behind bulletproof glass and admitted to carrying a revolver.
Still, biographer Amanda Marton described him as “sober, pragmatic, calm, compared to other far-right leaders”.
Unlike Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro, Argentina’s current leader Javier Milei or the United States’ Donald Trump, Kast is seen as reserved and cautious.
“He’s far more conservative and lacks charisma,” said Robert Funk, a political scientist at the University of Chile.
Supporters say a calm demeanour is part of his appeal.
“He doesn’t insult or provoke,” said retiree Maria Eugenia Rosas, 69, in the central city of Temuco.
But former colleagues describe him as authoritarian: “You’re with him or against him”, recalled journalist Lily Zuniga.
“He feels born for greatness,” Zuniga said.
A campaign spokesperson praised his persistence and work ethic, arguing he can be flexible when needed.
In his winning run, Kast downplayed his conservative agenda and focused on security and migration.
Analyst Claudia Heiss says “he hasn’t” moderated.
Kast has warned undocumented migrants to “pack your things and leave”.
He has claimed immigration is a plot by the “radical left” to end freedoms and that immigrants are taking homes, hospital beds, and government funds from Chileans.
“They told us that they can’t close the borders and now we can’t open our windows for fear of violence,” he said.
His rise comes amid a conservative wave sweeping Latin America and after Trump’s re-election in the US.
-Agence France-Presse
