page_title: José Antonio Kast
section_title: Political career
hierarchical_section_title: José Antonio Kast / Political career
context_page_description: José Antonio Kast Rist is a Chilean lawyer and politician who served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies, representing District 24 of Peñalolén and La Reina. He was a member of the Independent Democrat Union until 2016, and independent until 2019. Kast ran for president as an independent candidate in the 2017 election, and since 2018 is the leader of the conservative movement Republican Action. In 2019 he created the Chilean Republican Party and the think tank Republican Ideas.
context_section_description: Between 1996 and 2000 he was a councilman of Buin. In 2001, Kast was chosen 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 he resigned from to run for president.
  On 18 August 2017 he officially registered his independent candidacy with the Electoral Service, presenting 43,461 signatures. He was supported by right-wing, conservative, libertarian, nationalist, pinochetist and retired military groups, among others. Kast promoted a "less taxes, less government, pro-life", as well as anti-illegal immigration government program. His support of the Military Government led to much controversy during his campaign, especially his proposal to forgive convicts of human rights violations by Pinochet's government who have age-related illnesses. He got 523,213 votes in the presidential election, representing 7,93% of the total of votes and the 4th place, even though polls only showed a 2%-3% support. In the second round of the election he supported Sebastián Piñera's campaign, which won the election.
  In March 2018, during a tour on some Chilean universities, Kast was scheduled to give a talk at the Arturo Prat University in Iquique, but was physically assaulted by protesters opposing his political views. Kast also claimed "censorship" by the University of Concepción and the Austral University of Chile.
  In April 2018, José Antonio Kast revealed the right-wing political movement called Republican Action.
  In the 2018 Brazilian general election, JAK supported Jair Bolsonaro.
  Kast confirmed his intentions of running for president on the 2021 Chilean general election.
  In May 2019, he created the think tank Republican Ideas and in June 2019 he created the Chilean Republican Party.
caption: José Antonio Kast's campaign logo