 He was first elected to the Swiss National Council in 1999 as a member of the Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC) of the Canton of Zurich.In parliament, he was a member of the Committee for Economic Affairs and Taxation (CEAT), the Finance Committee (FC), and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (CE) in Strasbourg.In 2003, Hans Kaufmann was elected with 123'317 votes for the second time.