Chilean presidential election of 1952

← 1946 •• 1958 →
Presidential Election of Chile of 1952 President for the period 1952-1958
Date						Thursday, 4 September 1952
Type						Presidential, national level
Period						3 November 1952 to 3 November 1958
Electoral demography
Population					5 932 995 (c. 1952)
Registered						1 105 029
Voters						957 102
Participation
							86.61 %10.7 %
Valid votes						954 131
Results
			Carlos Ibáñez del Campo- Ind.
			Coalition Popular Socialist Party Agrarian Labour Party Ibañista National Movement Radical Doctrinary Party National Christian Party Female Progressive Party People’s Democratic Party
			Votes			446 439
			Votes in Plenary Congress						132
									46.79 %
			Arturo Matte Larraín- PL
			Coalition Liberal Party Traditional Conservative Party Magellan Regionalist Party Agrarian National Party Progressive Liberal Party
			Votes			265 357
			Votes in Plenary Congress						12
									27.81 %
			Pedro Enrique Alfonso Barrios- PR
			Coalition Radical Party Christian Social Conservative Party Falange Nacional Democratic Party of Chile
			Votes			190,360%
									19.95 %
			Salvador Allende Gossens- PS
			National People ' s Front Labour Party Communist Party of Chile
			Votes			51,975329 %
									5.45 %
Map of results by provinces
President of Chile
Owner Gabriel González Videla Radical Party						Elect Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Independent

The Chilean presidential election of 1952 was held on September 4, 1952, and Carlos Ibáñez del Campo won by relative majority, with 46.79% of the votes. This was the first Chilean election for president in which women's suffrage was incorporated. As a result of this, the electoral roll doubled with respect to the previous election.

Candidates

Pedro Enrique Alfonso

Pedro Enrique Alfonso was the candidate of the Radical Party, also supported by the Social Christian spectrum of politics. His supporters expected it to be the fourth radical government followed, since Pedro Aguirre Cerda entered La Moneda.

Prior to the elections, the Radicals governed in coalition with the Christian Social Conservative Party, the National Falange and the Democratic Party in the so-called Social Sensitivity cabinet. On October 12, 1951, the Falangists proclaimed Senator Eduardo Frei Montalva as their presidential candidate in an act held in the city of Talca. For their part, the Social Christian conservatives raised the candidacy of also Senator Manuel Muñoz Cornejo.

The government parties held a convention in January 1952 to choose the candidate, without reaching an agreement. Finally, on May 3 it was decided that the ruling party's candidate would be Pedro Enrique Alfonso.

Salvador Allende

Candidate of the Socialist Party, Senator Salvador Allende was running for the presidency of the republic for the first time. Although he would be supported by the outlawed communism, many of the socialist votes would be diverted to Ibáñez.

Carlos Ibáñez del Campo

Former president, Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, tried on several previous occasions to win the presidential seat through elections. To date he was an independent senator for Santiago, he only had the support of small parties, the main ones being the Popular Socialist Party and the Agrarian Labor Party, among others.

Arturo Matte

A senator from the Liberal Party, supported by his party and the Traditionalist Conservative, Arturo Matte had previously been Finance Minister under Juan Antonio Ríos, and had a certain influence in sectors of the center.

To define the opposition candidate, a national convention was held on July 14 and 15, 1951, attended by 500 representatives of the Liberal Party, 500 of the Traditionalist Conservative Party, and 240 of the National Agrarian Party led by Jaime Larraín García -Moreno, 100 from the National Democratic Party, 50 from the Progressive Liberal Party, 30 from the Magallanes Regionalist Party and 200 independents. Finally, 1,550 attended the convention held in the Hall of Honor of the National Congress.

The penultimate round of voting at the convention yielded the following result:

Candidate			Party		Votes	%
		Arturo Matte Larraín		PL	732	47.2%
		Juan Antonio Coloma Mellado		PCT	453	29.22%
		Gustavo Rivera Baeza		PL	174	11.22 %
		Francisco Bulnes Correa		PL	128	8.26 %
		Jaime Larraín García-Moreno		NAPA	39	2.51 %
White votes					24	1.55 %
Total votes cast					1550	100%

From this, the first 3 majorities faced each other in a final vote that gave Arturo Matte the winner.

Candidate			Party		Votes	%
		Arturo Matte Larraín		PL	1110	72.74 %
		Juan Antonio Coloma Mellado		PCT	402	26.34 %
		Gustavo Rivera Baeza		PL	14	0.92 %
Total votes cast					1526	100%

Campaign

Initially the campaign tended to be thought of as a confrontation between Alfonso and Matte, representatives of two of the strongest sectors of Chilean politics, radicalism and the right. Salvador Allende had against him the banning of the Communist Party and the dragging of popular votes from Ibáñez.

Carlos Ibáñez established his campaign against traditional politics, and managed to attract people with that speech. With the motto "Ibáñez to power and the broom to sweep" he was shown as a man who led Chile to a golden age during the presidency, and who would sweep away all the corruption of the traditional political parties.

Results

People's Choice

National

Ibáñez's triumph was overwhelming. The structural crisis that the country was going through and the total discredit into which traditional politics had fallen due to its corruption and inefficiency served this purpose.^{[citation required]} It should be noted that this was the first presidential election in which women had the right to vote.

Candidate			Party		Coalition Political support	Votes	%
		Carlos Ibáñez del Campo		Ind	PSP-PAL-MNI-PRDo-PNC-PPF-PDP	446 439	46.79 %
		Arturo Matte Larraín		PL	PL-PCT-PRM-PNA-PLP	265 357	27.81 %
		Pedro Enrique Alfonso Barrios		PR	PR-PCSC-FN-ChPD	190 360	19.95 %
		Salvador Allende Gossens		PS	National People ' s Front	51 975	5.45 %
Total valid votes						954 131	99.69 %
White and null votes						2971	0.31 %
Total votes cast						957 102	100%
Total registered						1 105 029	Abstaining: 13.39 %

By province

For tables of men and women

Election of the Full Congress

Since none of the candidates had an absolute majority, according to the 1925 Constitution, it was up to the Plenary Congress to choose between those two candidates who had obtained the highest relative majorities. He chose Ibáñez, who had obtained the highest majority.

The vote of the Plenary Congress (deputies and senators) was as follows:

Candidate			Party		Coalition Political support	Votes	%
		Carlos Ibáñez del Campo		Ind	PSP-PAL-MNI-PRDo-PNC-PPF-PDP	132	91.67 %
		Arturo Matte Larraín		PL	PL-PCT-PRM-PNA-PLP	12	8,33 %
Total valid votes						144	82.76 %
White votes						30	17.24 %
Total votes cast						174	100%
Congressmen who did not attend						18	Abstaining: 9.38 %