The celebration of the Chilean extreme right, behind closed doors: God, flags of Chile and the comic of Captain America

"Thank you very much to God, and long live Chile!" said José Antonio Kast to end the most anticipated speech of the election day at the headquarters of the Republican Party. The stage was installed in the courtyard of an old and traditional house in Las Condes – one of the most affluent sectors of Santiago – where some 250 adherents of the far-right collectivity celebrated last night a historic electoral result, which not even the most optimistic foresaw only a couple of hours before.

Even with sunlight, the first Republicans – coming from different sectors of Santiago, from children to the elderly, although young people between 20 and 30 years old predominated – began to appear after five in the afternoon. Almost in silence, they arrived with Chilean flags, banners that read the words refresh, recover, rebuild; while the most daring wore tight lycra shirts, printed with the muscular torso of the comic book character Captain America: the shield of the Marvel superhero is very similar to a logo of this political force.

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Results of the elections of constituent candidates in Chile 2023, live

At six o'clock in the afternoon, when the cold of the autumn afternoon was already beginning to be felt, no one spoke of "beating" in the place, except Ruth Hurtado, the General Secretary of the party. On the other hand, the 40-year-old leader preferred to emphasize that in La Araucanía – a region located 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 stones of buses that transported people to polling stations.

José Antonio Kast celebrates the result of the elections this Sunday, at the headquarters of the Republican Party in Santiago.Sofía Yanjarí

The mood began to change when television channels began to broadcast live the counts of the first tables, which immediately marked a favorable trend for the Republicans.

"We are going to celebrate today," shouted a militant who entered wrapped in a two-meter-long flag, when from outside the first honks of cars were heard passing in front of the house, flanked by half a dozen trucks with antennas that broadcast live the first official reactions of the main figures of the party.

In front of a score of cameras, the senator and one of the emblematic faces of the collectivity, Rojo Edwards, said: "One has to have tranquility when he is defeated and humility when he triumphs."

Responding to the question about a goal of elected candidates, Edwards was calm and satisfied with the possibility that the Republicans would add five councilors for the convention that will begin work on June 7. "If there are more, they are welcome," Edwards concluded.

It was 18:45 p.m. and, at that point, one of those five conventional was, with certainty, the constitutional lawyer Luis Silva, who stood with aplomb in front of the microphones to say: "there is talk of five counselors, but we hope there will be more", highlighting that the results were a reflection of a long-term work initiated in 2017 by José Antonio Kast, 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 publication of the result of Sunday's election. Sofia Yanjarí

"We are far from wanting to boycott this process, as well as renouncing the principles that have characterized us, which are not a novelty or a secret to anyone," said Silva, who with the passing of the hours would become the most voted constitutional councilor in the country, obtaining just over 700,000 votes in the Metropolitan Region and pulverizing the forecasts of several polls.

At 19:30 p.m. no one had doubts of a devastating triumph at the headquarters of the Republicans, and in the main courtyard of the house Chilean flags waved while dozens chanted a campaign song, entitled The rhythm of reconstruction, whose chorus says "Rebuild ... together this country / Recover... peace and quiet / Refresh... new faces we are going to give / Re-Re-Re-Re Republicans", mix of pop and urban sounds.

"It's a real party at this time," a television reporter described live. "You can see the effervescence in this place. I think they expected a good result here, but the truth is that they themselves are surprised."

One of those stunned was Ives Arancibia, 34, a creative adviser to Luis Silva's campaign. "People want to return to order, to how everything was before the criminal outbreak of October 18," was his explanation for the triumph of the collective, alluding to the social revolt of 2019.

Followers of the Republican Party celebrate their triumph in the elections by the constituent process. Sofia Yanjarí

"I think this is a vote of punishment for the Boric government," said José Hidalgo, 61, a recent member of the party, who explained the success by the party's ability "to interpret the real problems of Chileans today: crime, terrorism in the Araucanía Region and unleashed immigration in the north."

Although migration issues are a central part of the discourse of the party born in 2019, several migrants also celebrated in the place, such as the 58-year-old Venezuelan Yvel Fernández. From Maracaibo, in 2019 she arrived in Santiago "fleeing a country that was killed on every corner for stealing a cell phone." Faced with the migratory challenges facing Chile and the tough stance of the Republican Party, Fernández said he agreed, arguing that immigrants should be "classified to know who is who, and return those who come to commit crimes."

At nine o'clock in the evening, the most important moment of the night began with the appearance of Kast on stage. "Good night Republicans," said the leader of the collectivity, in a mood far from the prevailing triumphalism. Setting a serious, almost laconic tone from the first lines, in his speech Kast began by saying that today Chileans live burdened by economic uncertainty and security problems, and then described the Boric Administration as "incapable" of solving them.

"Chile has defeated a failed government," Kast said as he closed his speech. "Today is the first day of a better future for our country. A new beginning for Chile. Today we will begin to rebuild and recover our beloved country."

Already excited about the 2025 presidential campaign, the crowd of Republicans erupted in applause and closed the night shouting: "It feels, it feels, Kast President ... It feels, it feels, Kast President..."