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Presidential elections were held in Chile on 4 September 1964. [1] As the constitution prevented presidents from serving two consecutive terms, incumbent president Jorge Alessandri was ineligible for re-election. The result was a victory for Eduardo Frei Montalva of the Christian Democratic Party, who received 56% of the vote.
The elections were 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] This affected each candidate's strategy, as if nobody received a majority, it was tradition for Congress to elect the candidate who received the most votes, although this was not a constitutional requirement. In a television interview on 3 May Frei upheld this tradition, by stating that if no candidate earned a majority, Congress should elect the candidate who received the most votes. [3]
A fundamental question of the election was whether to radically transform economic and political institutions or whether to reform them. The Christian Democrats supported further agrarian reform, which had begun under the Alessandri administration and exerting greater state control over the dominant copper industry. FRAP called for more drastic action, advocating the nationalization of copper, nitrate and iron mining, and eventually petroleum companies as well. For agricultural reform, Salvador Allende advocated further transformation, creating a new system based upon a mix of state, collective, and private farms, while urging that no more than 35% of the arable land would be collectivized. [4]
Frei strongly advocated reform of politics, and in substance often differed little from FRAP's detailed proposals. But Frei took a more moderate tone, emphasizing a "Revolution in Liberty," which would transform Chilean society through democratic rather than totalitarian means, implying that Allende's election would lead to a dictatorship. This was part of a major anti-communist publicity campaign by the PDC, which was assisted substantially by the United States, to scare voters away from Allende. [5]
The elections took place during the Cold War, at a time when the United States was especially alarmed by the success of communist movements in Latin America. In August the Alessandri government bowed under pressure from the U.S. and broke off relations with Cuba, following the 1959 revolution. The move was opposed by FRAP, but had little direct effect on the presidential campaign. [6] For the White House, State Department and Central Intelligence Agency the democratic election of a Marxist candidate in the Western hemisphere would be a "shocking blow to the hegemonic position of the United States." [7]
The Church Committee of the US Senate revealed in 1975 that the CIA interfered substantially with the elections to prevent Allende winning. The CIA secretly funded more than half of Frei's campaign and supported an array of pro-Christian Democratic groups. Two other political parties were funded as well in an attempt to spread the vote. The CIA's assistance to Frei took the form of polling, voter registration and get out the vote drives, in addition to covert propaganda. [8] [9]
The US was countering the influence of the Soviet Union, and while the exact total of funds provided to Allende by the Soviets is unknown, records indicate he received $200,000 in 1963 and $275,000 in 1965. It was also believed by CIA Director John McCone that the Cuban government had given Allende up to $1 million, but there are no records proving this amount was paid by Cuba. [10] [11] In total the CIA spent $3 million in the 1964 elections, more money than Lyndon B. Johnson spent on his 1964 presidential campaign. [12]
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eduardo Frei Montalva | Christian Democratic Party | 1,409,012 | 56.09 | |
| Salvador Allende | Socialist Party | 977,902 | 38.93 | |
| Julio Durán | Radical Party | 125,233 | 4.99 | |
| Total | 2,512,147 | 100.00 | ||
| Valid votes | 2,512,147 | 99.27 | ||
| Invalid/blank votes | 18,550 | 0.73 | ||
| Total votes | 2,530,697 | 100.00 | ||
| Registered voters/turnout | 2,915,121 | 86.81 | ||
| Source: Nohlen | ||||
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Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens was a socialist politician, who served as the 28th president of Chile from 1970 until his death in 1973. As a democratic socialist committed to democracy, he has been described as the first Marxist to be elected president in a liberal democracy in Latin America.
Eduardo Nicanor Frei Montalva was a Chilean political leader. In his long political career, he was Minister of Public Works, president of his Christian Democratic Party, senator, President of the Senate, and the 27th president of Chile from 1964 to 1970. His eldest son, Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, also became president of Chile (1994–2000).
The Socialist Party of Chile is a centre-left political party founded in 1933. Its historic leader was President of Chile Salvador Allende, who was deposed in a coup d'état by General Augusto Pinochet in 1973. The military junta immediately banned socialist, Marxist and other leftist political parties. Members of the Socialist party and other leftists were subject to violent suppression, including torture and murder, under the Pinochet dictatorship, and many went into exile. Twenty-seven years after the 1973 coup, Ricardo Lagos Escobar won the Presidency as the Socialist Party candidate in the 1999–2000 Chilean presidential election. Socialist Michelle Bachelet won the 2005–06 Chilean presidential election. She was the first female president of Chile and was succeeded by Sebastián Piñera in 2010. In the 2013 Chilean general election, she was again elected president, leaving office in 2018.
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Presidential elections were held in Chile on 4 September 1970. Salvador Allende of the Popular Unity alliance won a narrow plurality in a race against independent Jorge Alessandri and Christian Democrat Radomiro Tomic, before having his victory confirmed by a congressional vote after the Christian Democrats voted in favour of his candidacy.
Jorge Eduardo Alessandri Rodríguez was the 26th President of Chile from 1958 to 1964, and was the candidate of the Chilean right in the crucial presidential election of 1970, which he lost to Salvador Allende. He was the son of Arturo Alessandri, who was president from 1920 to 1925 and again from 1932 to 1938.
Salvador Allende was the president of Chile from 1970 until his suicide in 1973, and head of the Popular Unity government; he was a Socialist and Marxist elected to the national presidency of a liberal democracy in Latin America. In August 1973 the Chilean Senate declared the Allende administration to be "unlawful," Allende's presidency was ended by a military coup before the end of his term. During Allende's three years, Chile gradually transitioned into a socialist state.
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Presidential elections were held in Chile on 4 September 1958. The result was a victory for Jorge Alessandri, who ran as an independent. Allende's defeat has been commonly attributed to Antonio Zamorano, also known as "Cura de Catapilco", entering the race as a populist left-wing candidate and taking votes from Allende's electorate. This explanation has been questioned by modern research that infers Zamorano took votes from across the political spectrum. The "Catapilco" effect remains a trope in Chilean electoral discourse used to indicate a candidate that finishes third and is believed to have hindered the runner-up.
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Radomiro Tomic Romero was a Chilean lawyer and politician of Croatian origin, and candidate for the presidency of the Chilean Republic in the 1970 election. He graduated as a lawyer from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (PUC). He began his political activity in the Social-Christian circles of the PUC, and was one of the co-founders of the Falange Nacional in 1938. He became president of the party in 1946–1947 and 1952–1953. He was married to Olaya Errázuriz Echenique, and together they had 9 children.
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