José Antonio Kast
José Antonio Kast Rist is a Chilean conservative politician, lawyer, and the president-elect of Chile. He served in the Chamber of Deputies from 2002 to 2018, representing districts in the capital, Santiago. Kast was a member of the Independent Democratic Union until 2016, after which he became an independent and later founded the Republican Party in 2019.
Kast ran for president three times: in 2017 as an independent, finishing fourth; in 2021, winning the first round but losing the runoff to Gabriel Boric; and in 2025, winning the runoff against Communist Party of Chile candidate Jeannette Jara. He is expected to take office on 11 March 2026.
Kast was initially described by some media and scholars as an old-fashioned conservative; in 2025 he was said to have adopted a more pragmatic policy agenda compared with his earlier campaigns. In 2026, some analysts have also noted certain technocratic elements in his political agenda. It has been noted that the names chosen for Kast's cabinet do not come from the political world; many have built their careers in the private sector or in think tanks.
Early life and career
José Antonio Kast was born in Santiago into a German family. His parents, Michael Kast Schindele and Olga Rist Hagspiel, were originally from Bavaria. Historical records indicate his father served as a lieutenant in the German Army during World War II and was a member of the Nazi Party.Kast's father immigrated to Chile in December 1950, settling in Buin. His mother and two siblings followed in 1951. In 1962, the family founded Cecinas Bavaria, a small sausage business that became the foundation of their wealth. The couple had ten children, three of whom predeceased their parents.
Several family members entered public life. His brother Miguel Kast was an economist who held posts under the military regime of Augusto Pinochet, including Minister of Labor and president of the Central Bank of Chile. José Antonio Kast is also the uncle of former deputy Pablo Kast, senator Felipe Kast, and deputy-elect Tomás Kast.
Kast studied law at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, where he became involved with the Gremialismo. He ran for president of the university's student federation. As a student, he appeared in a campaign ad for the "Yes" vote in the 1988 Chilean national plebiscite, supporting an eight-year extension of Pinochet's rule.
He founded a law firm in 1990 and also directed a family-owned real estate company in the 1990s. He taught civil law and commercial law at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile's Institute of Economics.
Parliamentarian career: 2002–2018
Beginnings
During his university years, he was elected to the Superior Council and ran as a candidate for the presidency of the Federation of Students of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile representing the Guildist Movement. In that election, constitutional lawyer Patricio Zapata, a member of the Christian Democratic University movement, was elected. He also participated in the student council of the School of Law of the PUC, where he met Jaime Guzmán, who encouraged him to join the Independent Democratic Union.In 1996, he ran in the municipal elections as a candidate for mayor of Buin, Chile, located south of the Santiago Metropolitan Region. After placing second, he assumed office as municipal councillor, a position he held between 1996 and 2000, during which time he also served as ceremonial mayor.
Deputy for 30th District: 2002–2014
In 2001, he ran as a candidate for Deputy for the 30th District, comprising the communes of Buin, Calera de Tango, Paine, and San Bernardo in the Metropolitan Region, and was elected with the highest vote share for the 2002–2006 legislative term. During this period, he served on the Standing Committees on Education, Culture, Sports and Recreation, and Family, as well as on special committees related to disability benefits and youth affairs.In 2005, he was re-elected for the same district for the 2006–2010 term. During this period, he participated in several standing and special committees, including Education, Family, Government Affairs, Youth, and an investigative committee on the creation of the criminalistics career.
In 2007, he was elected by his fellow UDI deputies as head of the party’s parliamentary caucus in the Chamner of Deputies and was unanimously re-elected in 2008. That same year, he ran for the presidency of the UDI, obtaining 36% of the votes in the party’s internal election.
In December 2009, he was re-elected Deputy for the 2010–2014 term. He served on the standing committees on Education, Sports and Recreation, Health, and Economy, Development and Tourism. In 2011, he was again elected head of the UDI parliamentary caucus and, on 30 March 2012, assumed the position of Secretary General of the UDI for a two-year term.
Deputy for 24th District: 2014–2018
After withdrawing his pre-candidacy for the Senate in Santiago East in the 2013 elections, he ran as a candidate for Deputy for 24th District, comprising the communes of La Reina and Peñalolén, and was elected for the 2014–2018 term, succeeding María Angélica Cristi.In September 2015, he announced his intention to run in a presidential primary within the Chile Vamos coalition. On 31 May 2016, he resigned from the UDI in order to pursue an independent presidential candidacy.
In 2017, after gathering the required number of signatures, he registered his independent candidacy for the presidency of Chile. In the first round of the presidential election, he placed fourth with 7.93% of the vote. Following the first round, he endorsed Sebastián Piñera for the runoff election.
He completed his term as Deputy on 11 March 2018, at which point he held no elected public office.
Presidential campaigns
2017 presidential campaign
On 18 August 2017, Kast registered his independent candidacy with 43,461 signatures. His support came from right-wing, conservative, libertarian, nationalist, and retired military groups. He campaigned on a platform of "less taxes, less government, pro-life" and anti-illegal immigration measures. His support for the former dictatorship was controversial, especially his proposal to pardon convicts over 80 with age-related illnesses, including those convicted of human rights violations. He received 523,213 votes, finishing fourth, outperforming polls that showed only 2–3% support. In the runoff, he supported the eventual winner, Sebastián Piñera. He stated, " Chileans need God," and proposed making religion teachers available in public schools.2021 presidential campaign
In 2018, Kast announced his intention to run in the 2021 presidential election. This time he ran under his own Republican Party. He formed the Christian Social Front pact with the Christian Conservative Party. His proposals included pardoning elderly former Pinochet officials, banning abortion, merging the Ministry of Women, withdrawing from the United Nations Human Rights Council, and building more prisons.In May 2019, Kast founded the think tank Republican Ideas, and in June, he established the Republican Party. He opposed the 2019 protests, calling them acts of violence by "terrorists". As protest approval waned, he gained support from Chileans weary of the unrest.
In the 2020 referendum on a new constitution, he campaigned for "Reject," which received 21.72% of the vote; the change was approved with 78.28%. In the 2021 Chilean Constitutional Convention election, his party formed a joint list, Vamos por Chile, with the center-right coalition Chile Vamos. The list won 20.6% of the vote. Kast's proposed candidate, Teresa Marinovic, won a high percentage of votes, helping several others enter the Convention via the D'Hondt method.
His slogan, "make Chile a great country," drew comparisons to Donald Trump's Make America Great Again, with supporters wearing MAGA apparel at his events. He skipped the Chile Vamos primary, won by Sebastián Sichel. After the first debate, Kast surpassed Sichel as the leading right-wing candidate. He won the first round with nearly 28% of the vote, advancing to a runoff against Gabriel Boric. He then secured endorsements from most of Chile's right, including President Sebastián Piñera. Internationally, he signed the Madrid Charter, a document authored by Spain's far-right Vox party, alongside figures like Rafael López Aliaga, Javier Milei, and Eduardo Bolsonaro. In late November 2021, he met in Washington, D.C., with Senator Marco Rubio, the Chilean ambassador to the OAS, and American business executives.
On 18 December, former candidate Franco Parisi endorsed Kast after an internal party consultation.
In the 19 December runoff, Kast received 44.13% of the vote, losing to Boric's 55.87%. He conceded and promised "constructive collaboration." He was the first candidate since 1999 to lead the first round but lose the runoff.
2025 presidential campaign
From March 2022 to December 2024, Kast served as president of the international conservative "Political Network for Values". In the 2022 constitutional referendum, the Republican Party backed "Rejection," which won. Unlike the 2020 plebiscite, voting was mandatory.The party initially opposed creating the Constitutional Council after the "Reject" victory but participated once the process was inevitable.
In the 2023 Constitutional Council election, the right won 34 of 51 seats. In the December plebiscite, the party supported the "in favor" option, but "against" won. Kast acknowledged the campaign's failure.
On 29 November 2024, the Republican Party confirmed Kast as its candidate for the 2025 election, running under the Change for Chile coalition. In June 2025, he was endorsed by withdrawn candidate Francesca Muñoz and in August, he officially registered his campaign under the slogan La fuerza del cambio. His campaign focused on institutional renewal, public order, and economic recovery. Campaign pledges included building ditches on the northern border, mass deportations of illegal migrants, and constructing maximum-security prisons.
Kast finished second in the first round on 16 November with nearly 24% of the vote, advancing to a runoff against Jeannette Jara. He received endorsements from Johannes Kaiser, Evelyn Matthei, and the Chile Grande y Unido coalition. Kast won the runoff on 14 December with over 58% of the vote, securing victories in all sixteen regions. His vote share was the second-highest since the transition to democracy, and his 7.2 million votes were the highest total in Chilean history.
Presidency (incoming 2026)
Kast is scheduled to be inaugurated as President of Chile on 11 March 2026. He will assume office without an absolute majority in Congress and will need to form coalitions with right-wing and centrist parties. The Senate is evenly divided, and the balance of power in the lower house rests with the populist People's Party.Kast has characterized his future administration as an "emergency government", a concept he has used to frame his presidency as one focused on addressing what he describes as urgent national crises—particularly public security, economic stagnation, and irregular migration—while postponing broader ideological or cultural debates. His agenda for 2026 has accordingly been described as pragmatic and technocratic. On immigration, he has stated that undocumented migrants would be given a period to leave voluntarily before his inauguration, after which those who remain could face deportation or prosecution.
After his election as president, Kast confirmed his intention to move into the Palacio de La Moneda, the official presidential residence in central Santiago, together with his wife, Pía Adriasola, once he takes office on 11 March 2026. He will be the first president to live in La Moneda since Carlos Ibáñez del Campo in the 1950s.
Cabinet
He announced his cabinet on 20 January 2026.Foreign relations
Kast has been described as far-right, which he denies. He has expressed right-wing populist positions and support for former dictator Augusto Pinochet, calling for a "firm hand" to govern Chile. He has also been described as conservative, neoconservative and ultraconservative, supports law-and-order messaging and free market policies. On social policy, he opposes euthanasia, abortion, and same-sex marriage, supporting social benefits only for married women. Kast rejects the scientific consensus on climate change, downplaying its dangers and mankind's role.Internationally, he has links with other right-wing figures and received support from Donald Trump. He participated in the Madrid Forum, meeting Santiago Peña; regularly voices support for Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele's crackdown on gangs, arguing Chile needs "more Bukele"; admires Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and drew inspiration from her immigration policy; strongly supports Javier Milei, Jair Bolsonaro and Spain's Vox party and its leader, Santiago Abascal. A staunch supporter of Israel, Kast has accused President Gabriel Boric of antisemitism, labeling his administration's critical stance toward Israel as 'ideological and irresponsible.'
He argues border management is "essential for the preservation of social order" and opposes illegal immigration. His proposal to dig a moat along the Chile-Bolivia border has been compared to U.S. President Donald Trump's support for a wall along the Mexico–United States border. On heritage, he says he wants to "defend Chile's European heritage and national unity against the left's espousal of indigenous groups and multiculturalism."
On public security, he argues the State must exercise authority with clarity, supporting a stronger Carabineros de Chile and greater state presence in troubled areas. His assessment of the military government focuses on institutional and economic reforms, avoiding personal labels. He has supported humanitarian considerations for elderly or ill inmates at Punta Peuco Jail, emphasizing that such decisions must follow constitutional and judicial procedure.
Following the 2026 United States strikes in Venezuela, Kast defended the operation, and said that the capture of Nicolás Maduro was "great news for the region".
Personal life
Kast married María Pía Adriasola on 20 December 1990; the couple have nine children. He is a practicing Roman Catholic and a member of the Schoenstatt Movement.Kast lives with his family in Paine, a suburban commune to the southeast of central Santiago.
Awards and recognition
- In 2023, the Municipality of Lima, under mayor Rafael López Aliaga, decorated Kast "for his role in the protection of human life, marriage, family and freedom of conscience."