1952 Chilean presidential election

1952 Chilean presidential election

4 September 1952
Turnout	86.61%
Candidate Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Arturo Matte Larraín Party Independent Liberal Popular vote 446,439 265,357 Percentage 46.79% 27.81% Congress vote 132 12   Candidate Pedro Enrique Alfonso Salvador Allende Party Radical Socialist Popular vote 190,360 51,975 Percentage 19.95% 5.45%
President before election Gabriel González Videla Radical Elected President Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Independent

Presidential elections were held in Chile on 4 September 1952.^[1] The result was a victory for Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, who ran as an independent.

Electoral system

The election was held using the absolute majority system, under which a candidate had to receive over 50% of the popular vote to be elected. If no candidate received over 50% of the vote, both houses of the National Congress would come together to vote on the two candidates who received the most votes.^[2]

Candidates

Pedro Enrique Alfonso

Alfonso was the candidate of the Radical Party, and was also supported by the social democratic parties. His government would have become the fourth consecutive Radical administration, since Pedro Aguirre Cerda was elected president.

Salvador Allende

Allende, a senator, was the candidate of the Socialist Party, and was running for president for the first time. He had the support of the banned Communist Party. Allende would run three more times, winning in 1970.

Carlos Ibáñez del Campo

Former president Ibáñez was an independent senator for Santiago, and was attempting to reach the presidency, once again, by popular vote. He had the support of minor parties, like the Socialist Popular Party and the Agrarian Labor Party, among others.

Arturo Matte

Matte was a Liberal Party senator supported by the Liberal and Conservative parties. He was Finance Minister under the administration of Juan Antonio Ríos.

Results

Candidate		Party	Popular vote		Congress vote
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Carlos Ibáñez del Campo	Independent	446,439	46.79	132	91.67
	Arturo Matte Larraín	Liberal Party	265,357	27.81	12	8.33
	Pedro Enrique Alfonso Barrios	Radical Party	190,360	19.95
	Salvador Allende	Socialist Party	51,975	5.45
Total			954,131	100.00	144	100.00
Valid votes			954,131	99.69	144	82.76
Invalid/blank votes			2,971	0.31	30	17.24
Total votes			957,102	100.00	174	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			1,105,029	86.61	192	90.62
Source: Nohlen, Chilean Electoral Database

References

1. Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume II, p262 ISBN 978-0-19-928358-3
2. Nohlen, p259