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José Antonio Kast

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Kast and the second or maternal family name is Rist.

José Antonio Kast
Kast in 2025
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
from East Santiago (2014-2018)
West Santiago (2002–2014)
In office
11 March 2002 – 11 March 2018
Preceded byPablo Longueira (30th)
María Angélica Cristi (24th)
Succeeded byJaime Bellolio (30th)
District abolished (24th)
Constituency30th district (2002–2014)
24th district (2014–2018)
Councilman of Buin
In office
6 December 1996 – 6 December 2000
Personal details
Born
José Antonio Kast Rist

(1966-01-18) 18 January 1966 (age 59)
Santiago, Chile
Political partyRepublican Party (since 2019)
Other political
affiliations		Independent Democratic Union (before 2016)
Independent (2016–2019)
Spouse
María Pía Adriasola Barroilhet
​
​
(m. 1991)​
Children9
ParentMichael Kast (father)
Relatives
Alma materPontifical Catholic University of Chile
Signature
WebsiteCampaign website

José Antonio Kast Rist (born 18 January 1966), also known by his initials JAK, is a Chilean lawyer and conservative politician, who supports law-and-order messaging and free-market economic policies. He is running for president in the 2025 Chilean general election, for the third time.[1] Part of the prominent Kast family, he served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 2002 to 2018.

Kast was a member of the Independent Democratic Union until 2016, becoming an independent politician. In 2019, he formed the conservative Chilean Republican Party and the think tank Republican Ideas. He previously ran for president as an independent candidate in the 2017 Chilean general election, and founded the Republican Action Movement (Acción Republicana) in 2018.

In the 2017 campaign, he adopted a strategy of disruptive provocation, supporting Augusto Pinochet[2][3] and also opposing abortion, same-sex marriage and illegal immigration. In 2021, Kast again run for president, winning the first round and losing in the second round run-off to Gabriel Boric. From this campaign onward, he began to moderate several of his controversial positions.[4][5][6][7]

He served as the president of the international organization Political Network for Values between 2022[8] and 2024.[9] Kast is married to María Pía Adriasola; the couple has nine children.[10] He is a practising Catholic and a member of the Schoenstatt Apostolic Movement.[11]

Biography

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Early life

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Kast's parents, Michael Kast Schindele and Olga Rist Hagspiel, were originally from Bavaria. His father had been a lieutenant in the German Army and a Nazi Party member,[12][13] who fled to Chile in December 1950 during the denazification of Germany and settled in Buin, a commune within the Maipo Department in Santiago Province (current Santiago Metropolitan Region).[14][15][16][17]

Kast's mother, along with two of his siblings, Michael (later Miguel) and Barbara, arrived in Chile in 1951.[14][16] The family founded Cecinas Bavaria, a sausage factory, in 1962, where the family made most of their fortune.[15][16] In total, Kast's parents had 10 children, three of whom predeceased their parents.[11] Kast's late brother Miguel was an economist and Chicago Boy who served under Augusto Pinochet as labor minister and president of the Central Bank of Chile, and Kast is also the uncle of Political Evolution senator Felipe Kast.[18]

Kast studied law at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, where he came in contact with the Movimiento Gremialista (Guildist Movement).[11] He was a candidate for the presidency of the university's student federation (FEUC). As a student, Kast appeared on the 1988 Chilean national plebiscite electoral space, supporting the option to extend Pinochet's rule for eight more years.[19][20]

Kast founded a law firm in 1990. He was also the director of a real estate company owned by his family in the 1990s.[21]

Political career

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Between 1996 and 2000, Kast was a councilman in Buin. In 2001, he was elected as a member of the Chamber of Deputies for District 30 of San Bernardo. He was the Secretary General of the Independent Democratic Union, a party from which he resigned in 2016 in order to run for president.[19][22]

While in the Chamber of Deputies, Kast gained the support of the Bishop of San Bernardo Juan Ignacio González Errázuriz, with the bishop writing a four-page document instructing his congregation to support those against emergency contraception and same-sex marriage.[23]

The support from the bishop was instrumental with Kast establishing his political career, with Kast's advocacy against contraception playing an important role in developing his support.[23]

Presidential campaigns

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2017 presidential campaign

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Kast's 2017 presidential campaign logo

On 18 August 2017, Kast officially registered his independent candidacy with the Electoral Service, presenting 43,461 signatures.[24] He was supported by right-wing, conservative, libertarian, nationalist and retired military groups, among others.[25][26][27] Kast promoted a "less taxes, less government, pro-life" stance,[28] as well as anti-illegal immigration[29] government programs. His support of the former military government led to much controversy during his campaign, especially his proposal to forgive convicts over 80 years old who have age-related illnesses, including those who were convicted of human rights violations under Pinochet's government.[28]

He received 523,213 votes in the 2017 presidential election, representing 7.93% of the total votes and landing in the fourth place, although opinion polls only showed a 2% to 3% support for him.[30] In the second round of the election, he supported Sebastián Piñera, who won the election. He remarked that "[In today's world,] Chileans need God", and said that the state should promote religion in schools by having available teachers for this subject when students choose to have them.[31]

Formation of political movements (2018–2022)

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José Antonio Kast during a pro-life march with a light-blue bandanna.
Republican Party logo, 2019

In terms of international relations, Kast proposed closing the border with Bolivia, arguing this measure would allow for a more effective fight against drug trafficking. In 2018, he called on the government to sever diplomatic relations with France in retaliation for the asylum granted to former guerrilla Ricardo Palma Salamanca.[32]

In March 2018, during a tour of Chilean universities, Kast was scheduled to give a talk at the Arturo Prat University in Iquique, but was physically assaulted by protesters opposed to his political views.[33] Kast also claimed censorship by the University of Concepción[34] and the Austral University of Chile.[35]

In the 2018 Brazilian general election, Kast supported Jair Bolsonaro.[36] In April 2018, Kast launched the right-wing political movement called Republican Action.[37]

José Antonio Kast in the first anniversary of the Republican Action Movement.

In September 2019, Kast was accused of failing to declare money transferred to companies in Panama. Kast recognized the existence of these companies but denied that he owned them, saying they were owned by his brother, Christian Kast. He then defended the right of Chilean people to invest abroad.[38] In May 2019, he created the think tank Republican Ideas and in June 2019 he created the Chilean Republican Party. He opposed the demonstrations that took place during the 2019 Chilean protests, saying that they were not part of a social movement but were instead acts of violence organized by terrorists.[19] As approval for the protests decreased, Kast was able to establish support of Chileans who opposed the violence observed during the protests.[39] During the 2020 Chilean national referendum regarding changing the Constitution of Chile, he was one of the main supporters and campaigners for rejecting the option,[19] which received 21.72% of the vote; the constitutional change was approved by 78.28% of the vote.[40]

In the 2021 Chilean Constitutional Convention election, Kast made a political pact with the center-right coalition Chile Vamos to form a joint list of candidates for the election called Vamos por Chile. The list obtained 20.6% of the vote, representing less than one-third of the Constitutional Convention. Kast proposed one of the main candidates of the pact, Teresa Marinovic, whose political views aligned with Kast's but was not well received by parts of the center-right. However, Marinovic won with a high percentage of votes and, thanks to the D'Hondt method, many other candidates were able to enter the Constitutional Convention with her triumph.[41]

In the 2022 constitutional referendum, the Republican Party officially supported the "Rejection" option,[42] which emerged victorious over the "Approve" option. Unlike the previous plebiscite,[43] voting was mandatory this time[44] and the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic were less stringent.

2021 presidential campaign

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Kast in the 2021 presidential campaign
Second presidential campaign logo in 2021

In 2018, Kast confirmed his intentions of running for president in the 2021 Chilean general election.[45] In this election, he ran under his own Republican Party along with candidates for the Chamber of Deputies and Senate, unlike in his previous presidential candidacy in 2017, in which he ran as an independent. Kast formed the Christian Social Front, a political pact to present a list of candidates from the Republican Party and the Christian Conservative Party. Kast has held campaign proposals that have been controversial. He supports the pardoning of former Pinochet officials of "advanced age", which would generally include all officials imprisoned. He also proposed banning abortion, fusing the Ministry of Women and Gender Equality, remove Chile from the United Nations Human Rights Council and building more prisons.[46]

During his campaigning, Kast used the slogan "make Chile a great country", which was compared to Donald Trump's Make America Great Again slogan,[47] with some supporters wearing Make America Great Again apparel at his events.[48][49][50] Kast did not participate in the Chile Vamos presidential primary, which was won by Sebastián Sichel. Sichel was considered as the main right-wing candidate in the polls at the beginning of the election. However, after the first debate on television, Kast started to surpass Sichel and became the top candidate on the right. He received the most votes in the first round of the election, nearly 28% of total votes cast, and he qualified for the run-off against Gabriel Boric.[51]

Following his success in the first round, Kast has found solidarity with other right-wing figures, signing the Madrid Charter – a document condemning left-wing groups in Ibero-America authored by the far-right Vox party of Spain – beside other international signatories; Rafael López Aliaga of Peru, Javier Milei of Argentina and Eduardo Bolsonaro of Brazil, the son of President Jair Bolsonaro.[52] On 30 November 2021, Kast began to make international connections during his campaign, meeting in Washington, D.C., with Republican United States Senator Marco Rubio, the Chilean ambassador to the Organization of American States and at least twenty American business executives invested in Chile, including María Paulina Uribe of PepsiCo.[46][39][53]

On 18 December, the former presidential candidate of the Party of the People, Franco Parisi, endorsed José Antonio Kast. This followed the results of an internal party consultation where members chose to support Kast with 61.41% of the votes, compared to 6.58% who favored Gabriel Boric.[54][55]

In the second round of the election, held on 19 December, Kast received 44.13% of the votes, losing to Gabriel Boric, who garnered 55.87% of the votes and became Chile's new president.[56] On 19 December 2021, Kast conceded defeat after losing to Boric in the run-off and promised "constructive collaboration".[57] Kast became the first candidate since 1999 to lead the presidential election in the first round but lose the runoff.[58]

Presidency of the "Political Network for Values" (2022−2024)

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José Antonio Kast at the VI Transatlantic Summit of the Political Network for Values held in the Senate of Spain in 2024.

Between March 2022 and December 2024, Kast served as president of the international conservative network "Political Network for Values".[59][60]

Constitutional Council 2023

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Main articles: 2023 Chilean Constitutional Council election, Constitutional Council (Chile), and 2023 Chilean constitutional referendum
José Antonio Kast at the Republican Party's headquarters following their victory in May 2023.

Before the election, the party opposed the creation of the Constitutional Council following the victory of the "Reject" option in the previous exit plebiscite. However, the party deemed it important to participate in the process once it could no longer be blocked, and no entry plebiscite was held.[61]

In 2023, the Constitutional Council was formed to draft the new Constitution. This council consisted of 51 members, with Chileans electing 34 from the right (23 from the Republican Party and 11 from Chile Vamos) and 16 from the left in May of that year. In November, the party's leadership decided to support the "In Favor" option in the December plebiscite, but the "Against" option emerged victorious. After the defeat, José Antonio Kast acknowledged the campaign's failure.[62]

2025 presidential campaign

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In November 2024, the Republican Party confirmed José Antonio Kast as its candidate for the first round of the 2025 Chilean presidential election, rejecting participation in primaries with Chile Vamos and other opposition candidates.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b "El Partido Republicano de Chile confirma a José Antonio Kast como su candidato para las presidenciales de 2025". La Gaceta. 29 November 2024. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  2. ^ "Manifiesto presidencial de José Antonio Kast: "Con Pinochet nos habríamos tomado un tecito en La Moneda". La Tercera. 18 November 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  3. ^ "José Antonio Kast asegura que si Pinochet estuviera vivo "claramente votaría por mí"". Emol. 9 November 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  4. ^ "Kast y matrimonio igualitario: "Aunque a mí no me guste, si el Parlamento se pronuncia a favor, va a ser ley"". Emol. 23 November 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  5. ^ "La metamorfosis de Kast". La Tercera. 15 June 2025. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  6. ^ "Kast dice que no es pinochetista y que la dictadura fue "un gobierno autoritario"". CNN Chile. 16 November 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  7. ^ "El «aylwinista»: José Antonio Kast destaca a Patricio Aylwin porque «tuvo que llevar adelante la transición y tomar lo que venía de un gobierno autoritario»". El Mostrador. 13 December 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  8. ^ "Jose Antonio Kast is the new President of the Political Network for Values". Political Network for Values. 29 March 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  9. ^ "Leaders from three continents take the Madrid Commitment: a decade of action for freedom and the culture of life". Political Network for Values. 2 December 2024. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  10. ^ "Un día con Pía Adriasola, esposa de J.A. Kast: "Dios me compensó por tener menos marido con 9 hijos"" (in Spanish). El Dínamo. 4 August 2017. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  11. ^ a b c Ibarra, Valeria (31 July 2011). "Historia del clan Kast mezcla negocios, política y religión" (in Spanish). El Mercurio. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  12. ^ Frank, Jordans; Joshua, Goodman (8 December 2021). "Father's Nazi past haunts Chilean presidential frontrunner". AP News. Archived from the original on 19 December 2021. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  13. ^ "Chile's new president promises to bury neoliberalism". Economist. The Economist. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  14. ^ a b Ibarra M., Valeria (31 July 2011). "Historia del clan Kast mezcla negocios, política y religión". El Mercurio (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  15. ^ a b Salazar Salvo, Manuel (15 June 2019). "El origen del clan de los Kast en Chile". Interferencia (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  16. ^ a b c "Kast reinvindica a Pinochet y quiere devolver el orden a Chile". France 24. Agence France-Presse. 18 November 2021. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
  17. ^ Slate Escanilla, Christian (29 June 2017). "Del Bavaria a la Moneda". Diario El Día (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  18. ^ "¿José Antonio o Felipe?: "Es lo que nos preguntamos en los almuerzos familiares"" (in Spanish). La Segunda. 7 April 2017. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  19. ^ a b c d Dávila, Mireya (January 2020). "La reemergencia del pinochetismo". Barómetro de política y equidad. 16: 49–69.
  20. ^ "Video: El día en que José Antonio Kast apoyó a Pinochet en la franja del SÍ". El Desconcierto (in Spanish). 10 September 2018. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
  21. ^ Ojeda G, Juan Manuel (1 September 2019). "La ruta de los dineros de José Antonio Kast". La Tercera.
  22. ^ Political Handbook of the World 2015 at Google Books
  23. ^ a b Muñoz Léon, Fernando (2014). "Morning-After Decisions: Legal Mobilization Against Emergency Contraception in Chile". Michigan Journal of Gender & Law. 21 (1). University of Michigan Law School: 123–175.
  24. ^ "Servicio Electoral vive jornada de formalización de pacto y declaraciones de candidaturas – Servicio Electoral de Chile". www.servel.cl (in Spanish). 18 August 2017.
  25. ^ "José Antonio Kast: "Yo sí defiendo con orgullo la obra del gobierno militar"" (in Spanish). The Clinic. 11 August 2017. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  26. ^ "Out From the Shadow of Pinochet: A Guide to Chile's Election". Bloomberg News. 7 July 2017. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  27. ^ Jiménez, Marcela. "Kast y la irrupción de la ultraderecha: avanza el ejército en las sombras". El Mostrador (in Spanish). Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  28. ^ a b Montes, Rocío (13 November 2017). "El presidenciable chileno que reivindica a Pinochet". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  29. ^ "José Antonio Kast: No queremos que otros se aprovechen y vengan pensando que van a salvar sus vidas" (in Spanish). 11 October 2017. Archived from the original on 30 November 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  30. ^ "Una sorpresa llamada Kast - Revista Qué Pasa". Revista Qué Pasa (in European Spanish). 20 November 2017. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  31. ^ Jara, Alejandra (3 November 2017). "Kast propone profesores de religión en todos los colegios públicos: "A los chilenos les hace falta Dios"" (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  32. ^ "Polémique après l'asile accordé par la France à un ex-guérillero chilien". Les Echos. 6 November 2018.
  33. ^ Tercera, La (25 March 2018). "José Antonio Kast por agresión en Iquique: "No puedo permitir que me caricaturicen"". La Tercera.
  34. ^ "J.A. Kast invoca Ley Zamudio contra Universidad de Concepción por no poder realizar una charla a estudiantes". Emol. 19 March 2018.
  35. ^ "Organizadores cancelan charla de J.A. Kast en la Universidad Austral: Ex diputado acusa censura por amenazas de grupos de izquierda". Emol. 12 April 2018.
  36. ^ "José Antonio Kast se reúne con Bolsonaro y le regala camiseta de la Selección Chilena". 24 Horas. 18 October 2018. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  37. ^ "José Antonio Kast lanza su movimiento Acción Republicana "para despertar a la gran mayoría silenciosa"" (in Spanish). 20 April 2018.
  38. ^ "José Antonio Kast reconoce "errores" tras revelación de sociedades familiares en Panamá" (in Spanish). 3 September 2019. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  39. ^ a b Jara, Matias (5 December 2021). "Kast: el candidato chileno que quiere construir zanjas en las fronteras con Perú y Bolivia". Ojo Público (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  40. ^ "Jubilation as Chile votes to rewrite constitution". BBC News. 26 October 2020.
  41. ^ "Teresa Marinovic logra alta cantidad de votos y formará parte de la Convención Constituyente" (in Spanish). Meganoticias. 6 May 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2024.
  42. ^ "El Partido Republicano cambia a su presidente y su jefe de bancada tras triunfo del Rechazo". Página 12. 7 September 2022. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
  43. ^ "Chile: New Constitution rejected". MercoPress. 5 September 2022.
  44. ^ "Retorno del voto obligatorio: quiénes fueron los nuevos votantes". Ciper. 8 September 2022. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
  45. ^ "Kast anuncia carrera presidencial para elecciones de 2021 en seminario llamado "Marxismo Cultural"". BioBioChile. 16 December 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  46. ^ a b Grim, Ryan; Hibbett, Maia (1 December 2021). "Marco Rubio Met With Far-Right Chilean Candidate Tied to Military Dictatorship". The Intercept. Archived from the original on 1 December 2021. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  47. ^ Brunstein, Carolina (21 November 2021). "Elecciones en Chile: José Antonio Kast, el conservador que se presenta como 'el candidato del sentido común'". Clarín (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 November 2021.
  48. ^ "Chile's right rejoices after pro-Pinochet candidate wins presidential first round". The Guardian. 22 November 2021. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
  49. ^ "Analysis | Chile's election is a window into Latin America's polarization". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
  50. ^ "Chile Elections". Associated Press. 21 November 2021.
  51. ^ "Elección de Presidente 2021". Servicio Electoral de Chile (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 23 November 2021. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  52. ^ "Spooked by Venezuela". The Economist. Vol. 9270, no. 441. London: The Economist Intelligence Unit. 6 November 2021. p. 49.
  53. ^ "Kast concluye reunión con senador republicano de EE.UU. Marco Rubio: "Pudimos abordar distintos temas de interés internacional"". El Mostrador (in Spanish). 1 December 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  54. ^ "Tras consulta virtual, el Partido de la Gente se inclina por José Antonio Kast". CNN Chile. 18 December 2021. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  55. ^ Catalina Martínez (18 December 2021). "Tras conocerse los resultados de la consulta ciudadana realizada por el PDG, Parisi asegura que votaría por Kast: "Yo sigo a mi colectivo"". La Tercera. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  56. ^ "El día después del histórico triunfo de Gabriel Boric, futuro Presidente de Chile". Cooperativa.cl. 20 December 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  57. ^ "Leftist Boric set to become new Chile president as Kast concedes defeat". Deutsche Welle. 19 December 2021. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  58. ^ Juan Manuel Ojeda and Mariana Marusic (20 December 2021). "¿Por qué perdió José Antonio Kast? Los factores que le quitaron el triunfo al candidato que pasó primero al balotaje". La Tercera. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  59. ^ Es, Eleconomista (2 December 2024). "Qué es Red Política de Valores, la organización que celebra una cumbre internacional en el Senado con muchas críticas de fondo". El Economista. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  60. ^ "Líderes de 3 continentes se comprometen a una década de acción por la vida, la familia y la libertad". Aci Prensa. 3 December 2024. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  61. ^ "El lobby de republicanos a RN y la UDI para bloquear un nuevo proceso constituyente". La Tercera. 12 September 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2023.
  62. ^ ""No supimos explicarlo": La autocrítica de Kast tras derrota del 'a favor'". T13. 22 December 2023. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
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