Controversy in Chile: elected deputy questions the female vote in video circulating on social networks

Santiago de Chile (CNN) -– The newly elected deputy Johannes Kaiser, of the far-right Republican Party of Chile, starred in a controversy this Tuesday after circulating an undated video extract on social networks in which he questions the right to vote for women and refers to immigrants as rapists.

In the images in question, which last 29 seconds, Kaiser seems to be having a virtual conversation with two other people when he says: “What happens is that you also have a kind of schizophrenia there. Women stop going to the park to jogging because they are afraid of immigrants who may rape them, but they continue to vote for the same parties that are bringing those people, and you really wonder if the right to vote [de las mujeres] it was a good idea. “

CNN en Español does not know the original origin of the video. It is also unknown when it was recorded or in what context Kaiser made his comments. What is clear is that his statements have become a viral phenomenon in Chile that has caused a stir in the press in that country.

According to the CNN Chile portal, Kaiser said: “I want to publicly apologize to all those who have been offended, for a series of frankly unacceptable phrases, which resulted from a bad irony that sought to scandalize by attracting attention.”

Previously, the politician had indicated that the video was recorded five years ago and emphasized that his intention was never to question the right to vote of women. He added that his words were taken out of context because the Twitter platform only allows up to two minutes 20 seconds of video to be shown.

“Why are you showing only this segment? To take out of context. I do not question or question the voting rights of women. I made a sarcasm that people vote against their own interests,” Kaiser wrote earlier in his account from Twitter.

However, since then the elected deputy seems to have closed his personal account on that social network called @Jou_Keiser.

For her part, Mónica Zalaquett, businesswoman and Minister of Women of Chile, harshly criticized Kaiser’s comments.

“It is unacceptable that the right to vote of women is questioned. We came to public life to stay and we will continue working so that more women occupy spaces of political responsibility,” the official said Tuesday before the Chilean media.

Kaiser was elected last Sunday with almost 12% support from District 10 in downtown Santiago and is scheduled to take office next March. The future legislator runs El Nacional-Libertario, a YouTube channel with more than 109,000 subscribers.

The politician belongs to the same formation as José Antonio Kast, the far-right candidate who went to the second presidential round in the same elections on Sunday.

After being consulted on Tuesday about Kaiser’s statements, the Republican leader said he had not seen the video in question and that it would be necessary to investigate when it was released and under what context.

Kast clarified that he did not share Kaiser’s alleged assertions and pointed out that the elected deputy “will have to give an explanation regarding his statements.”

“I think that he [Kaiser] these days he will have to take charge of the sayings and when he said it, why he said it, how he said it, but I cannot share those kinds of statements, “concluded Kast.