1952 Chilean presidential election

1952 Chilean presidential election

← 1946 4 September 1952 1958 →
Turnout	86.61%
Candidate Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Arturo Matte Larraín [es] Party Independent Liberal Popular vote 446,439 265,357 Percentage 46.79% 27.81% Congress vote 132 12   Candidate Pedro Enrique Alfonso [es] 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

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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.

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]

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.

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.

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 several minor parties, including the Socialist Popular Party and the Agrarian Labor Party.

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

Since none of the candidates received an absolute majority of the popular votes cast on 4 September, in keeping with the 1925 Constitution a plenary session of both houses of Congress was convened to choose between the two leading candidates on 24 October. The members of Congress selected Ibáñez (who had received a greater share of the popular vote) over Matte.^[3]