SANTIAGO, Oct 2, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Chilean far-right presidential frontrunner Jose Antonio Kast on Wednesday defended his plan to cut public spending by a whopping $6 billion in 18 months, rejecting criticism that it would jeopardize social programs as "lies."

Kast, who is campaigning as the anti-immigration, law-and-order candidate, is hotly tipped to win the presidency on his third attempt.

While polls put him neck-and-neck with Jeannette Jara, a communist representing a left-wing coalition, for the first round of voting on November 16, they all show Kast winning if the election goes to a run-off on December 14 as currently expected.

On Tuesday, outgoing left-wing President Gabriel Boric tore into Kast's economic program, saying his proposals for large-scale spending cuts were "irresponsible" and "impossible" to implement without affecting benefits such as the universal state pension (PGU).

At a campaign event in Santiago, Kast, 59, accused Boric of "lies" for suggesting he would cut social programs.

"No, Mr. President. We're going to cut $6 billion in political spending without affecting social benefits like the PGU," he added on X.

"And we're going to start after all the corrupt officials you brought into government who, over these four years, have stolen the money of the poorest Chileans."

The public debt of Chile, a country known for its fiscal prudence, has grown steadily over the last decade.

However, at 41.7 percent of GDP as of December, it is still low compared to many South American countries.

On his campaign website, Kast says he will make savings by tackling "state waste and profligacy," scrapping public programs that are "ill-conceived and have zero social impact" and fighting corruption.

He has also vowed, if elected, to deport all undocumented migrants, including children, and to build maximum-security prisons for suspected gang members, along the lines of El Salvador's notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT).

Polls show rising insecurity, for which many Chileans blame foreign crime gangs, particularly those from Venezuela, as voters' top concern.