José Antonio Kast

About

José Antonio Kast Rist (Spanish: [xoˈse anˈtonjo ˈkast]; born 18 January 1966) is a Chilean lawyer and politician who has served as the 38th president of Chile since 2026. Kast previously served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 2002 to 2018, representing districts in the Santiago Metropolitan Region.
Born in Santiago to a German immigrant family, Kast graduated from the Pontificial Catholic University of Chile in 1990 with a degree in law. During his studies, he would become involved in youth pro-Pinochet conservative movements, supporting the “Yes” option in the 1988 presidential referendum to form part of Jaime Guzman’s Movimiento Gremialista. He joined the Independent Democratic Union (UDI) in 1996, from which he resigned in 2016. He became an independent for three years prior to his founding of the Republican Party (PRCh) in 2019.
He ran for president thrice: in 2017, as an independent close to the far-right, finishing fourth; in 2021, winning the first round but losing the runoff to Gabriel Boric; and in 2025, winning the runoff against Communist Party candidate Jeannette Jara, achieving the highest vote share since Chile’s restoration of democracy while carrying all…