The Republican Party (; PLR) is a

right-wing populist Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right populism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics with populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti- elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establishm ...

and

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. Its founder and former leader is Chilean presidential candidate

José Antonio Kast José Antonio Kast Rist (born 18 January 1966), also known by his initials JAK, is a Chilean lawyer and politician. He is running for president in the 2025 Chilean general election, for the third time. Part of the prominent Kast family, he se ...

History

Background

, the founder of the party, was a deputy for 16 years, and a member of the Independent Democratic Union (UDI) for 20 years. In 2017 he ran for president, finishing in fourth place with nearly 8% of the vote. Kast became disillusioned with UDI and resigned in protest, believing that the party criticized former Chilean dictator

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean military officer and politician who was the dictator of Military dictatorship of Chile, Chile from 1973 to 1990. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader ...

too often. With the base of support he obtained with the election, he decided to found a political movement.

Foundation

The Republican Party began as the Chilean manifestation of the

conservative wave The conservative wave (; ), or blue tide (; ), was a right-wing political phenomenon that occurred in the mid-2010s to the early 2020s in Latin America as a direct reaction to the pink tide. During the conservative wave, left-wing governments s ...

in Latin America. On 3 March 2018, Kast held the first meeting of (what at that time was) the new movement. Some time after, on 9 April, the movement was presented at the Omnium Hall in

Las Condes Las Condes is a commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region. The area is inhabited primarily by upper middle- to high-income families and is known in the Chilean collective consciousness as home to the country's e ...

, and it was named "Acción Republicana" (''Republican Action''). On 10 June 2019, Kast presented the party to the Servel, the party formation is still ongoing. More than half of the directive is composed of ex members of the

UDI Udi may refer to: Places * Udi, Enugu, a local government areas and city in Nigeria * Udi Hills, Enugu State, Nigeria * Udi, a place in the Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh, India People Given name * Udi Aloni (born 1959), Israeli-American film ...

. One of them is the only deputy the party has in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

, Ignacio Urrutia. On 21 January 2020, the Servel legally constituted the party in the regions of O'Higgins, Maule and Ñuble, after the necessary number of signatures was presented. On 14 August 2020, the party was officially constituted in the regions of Biobío and Araucanía, at the same time violent incidents related with the

Mapuche conflict The Mapuche conflict () involves indigenous Mapuche communities, known by the foreigners as the Araucanians, located in Araucanía and nearby regions of Chile and Argentina. The first attack, marking the beginning of the period of violence i ...

were taking place in the zone. On 9 September, the party was constituted in

Santiago Metropolitan Region Santiago Metropolitan Region () is one of Chile's 16 first-order administrative divisions. It is the country's only landlocked administrative region and contains the nation's capital, Santiago. Most commercial and administrative centers are loc ...

, and it was announced that it would present candidates to the municipal elections. On 19 July 2021, the party was constituted in the regions of Arica and Parinacota, Atacama, Aysén and Magallanes, making it a national-level party, constituted in all Chilean regions.

2023 events

2023 saw the party win a landslide victory in the Constitutional Council election of May. In early December 26 members including senator

Rojo Edwards Rojo Edwards Silva (born José Manuel Ismael Edwards Silva; 15 July, 1977) is a Chilean politician and civil engineer serving as senator for the Santiago Metropolitan Region. A member of the Christian Social Party, he previously served in the ...

renounced the party.

2024 events

In January 2024 Deputy Johannes Kaiser renounced after being sanctioned being removed from legislative committees for making explicit that he voted "Against" the Constitutional Proposal of 2023, supported by the party directive. He emphasizes that he wasn't going to participate in any campaign for his option for respect for the party, something which he accomplished. He founded the

National Libertarian Party The National Libertarian Party () is a far-right Chilean political party led by Johannes Kaiser. It was founded by five libertarian members of the national conservative Republican Party in the Chamber of Deputies. Its legalisation process by the ...

in July of the same year, having the signatures required in 2025 to officially create the new political party.

Ideology

The Republican Party has been described as being

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

authoritarian Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and ...

, nativist,

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

and right-wing antiglobalist. Political scientist Cristóbal Rovira categorizes the party as belonging to a populist radical right, rather than far-right which is academically an incorrect label for the party.Cristóbal Rovira: "El Partido Republicano no es de extrema derecha; es derecha populista radical"
Revista Pauta. October 31, 2021. Retrieved November 25, 2021. According to Political scientist Mireya Dávila the party contain some positions typical of the far-right, but notes also that far-right groups have also found expression in the older right-wing parties National Renewal and

Independent Democratic Union The Independent Democratic Union (''Unión Demócrata Independiente'', UDI) is a conservative and right-wing political party in Chile, founded in 1983. Its founder was the lawyer, politician, law professor and senator Jaime Guzmán, a civilian a ...

. The party's ideological doctrine is similar to the previously existing

Gremialismo Gremialismo, or guildism, is a social, political, and economic ideology, inspired in the Catholic social teachings that claims that every correct social order should base itself in intermediary societies between persons and the state, which are ...

and is the main group of " organic Pinochetism", the new far-right in Chile, with the party receiving more support as

centre-left Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commo ...

and

center-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

parties began to reach a point of political convergence in the area policies and a perceived collusion in corruption as scandals arose. According to Cox and Blanco, the Republican Party appeared in Chilean politics in a similar manner to Spain's Vox party, with both parties splitting off from an existing right-wing party to collect disillusioned voters. The Republican Party calls for measures to reduce

illegal immigration Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of that country's immigration laws, or the continuous residence in a country without the legal right to do so. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upward, wi ...

, including building a ditch along the border with

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

. The party describes recent popular protests in Chile as ideological

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

and frames indigenous movements as

narcoterrorism Narcoterrorism, in its original context, is understood to refer to the attempts of narcotics traffickers to influence the policies of a government or a society through violence and intimidation, and to hinder the enforcement of anti-drug laws b ...

. Regarding economic policy, the Republican Party supports

neoliberalism Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pe ...

and a

market economy A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production, and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand. The major characteristic of a mark ...

, including cutting

tax A tax is a mandatory financial charge or levy imposed on an individual or legal entity by a governmental organization to support government spending and public expenditures collectively or to regulate and reduce negative externalities. Tax co ...

es. The Republican Party holds

socially conservative Social conservatism is a political philosophy and a variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional social structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institu ...

views of a heteropatriarchal society and attaches itself to a traditional

Western Christian Western Christianity is one of two subdivisions of Christianity (Eastern Christianity being the other). Western Christianity is composed of the Latin Church and Western Protestantism, together with their offshoots such as the Old Catholic Ch ...

point of view, supporting a

heterosexual Heterosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the opposite sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions ...

nuclear family A nuclear family (also known as an elementary family, atomic family, or conjugal family) is a term for a family group consisting of parents and their children (one or more), typically living in one home residence. It is in contrast to a single ...

while opposing

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

and

assisted suicide Assisted suicide, sometimes restricted to the context of physician-assisted suicide (PAS), is the process by which a person, with the help of others, takes actions to end their life. Once it is determined that the person's situation qualifie ...

. Members of the party have also expressed anti-feminist attitudes. Kast has been recognized as the main leader of the Chilean

extreme right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

for several years, consistently advocating neoliberal economics,

anti-immigration Opposition to immigration, also known as anti-immigration, is a political position that seeks to restrict immigration. In the modern sense, immigration refers to the entry of people from one state or territory into another state or territory in ...

policies and opposition to abortion and

gay marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 billion people (20% ...

Presidential candidates

The following is a list of the presidential candidates supported by the Republican Party (information gathered from th
Archive of Chilean Elections
: *

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

–

(lost)

Electoral history

Presidential election

Congress election

Municipal elections

Regional elections

References

External links

Official web site
{{Chilean political parties Nationalist parties in Chile Right-wing populism in South America Right-wing populist parties Conservative parties in Chile Political parties established in 2019 2019 establishments in Chile Opposition to same-sex marriage in South America Right-wing parties in South America Right-wing politics in Chile National conservative parties Socially conservative parties Far-right political parties in Chile Organizations that oppose LGBTQ rights in South America Anti-communist parties