A presidential election was held in Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

 on September 4, 1952. It was the first presidential election where women were allowed to vote, after gaining the right in 1949. The election was won by Carlos Ibáñez del Campo

Carlos Ibáñez del Campo

General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo was a Chilean Army officer and political figure. He served as dictator between 1927 and 1931 and as constitutional President from 1952 to 1958.- The coups of 1924 and 1925 :...

, who obtained 46.8% of the vote, after confirmation by Congress.

Pedro Enrique Alfonso

Alfonso was the candidate of the Radical Party

Radical Party of Chile

Radical Party of Chile may refer to the:*Radical Party *Social Democrat Radical Party...

, and was also supported by the Social Democratic political spectrum. His government would have become the fourth consecutive Radical administration, since Pedro Aguirre Cerda

Pedro Aguirre Cerda

Pedro Aguirre Cerda was a Chilean political figure. A member of the Radical Party, he was chosen as the Popular Front's candidate for the 1938 presidential election, and was triumphally elected. He governed Chile until his death in 1941...

 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.

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 Popular Socialist Party and the Agrarian Labor Party

Agrarian Labor Party

The Agrarian Labor Party was a Chilean political party supporting the candidacy of Carlos Ibáñez del Campo for the 1952 presidential election. Formed in 1945, it was dissolved in 1958....

, among others.

Arturo Matte

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

Election

Ibáñez's victory was overwhelming. He was helped by the undergoing structural crisis and the loss of prestige of politicians because of corruption and inefficiency.

Picture	Candidate	Party/Coalition	Votes	%
	Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Carlos Ibáñez del Campo General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo was a Chilean Army officer and political figure. He served as dictator between 1927 and 1931 and as constitutional President from 1952 to 1958.- The coups of 1924 and 1925 :...	Agrario Laborista/Socialista Popular	446,439	46.8%
	Arturo Matte Larraín	Liberal/Conservador Tradicionalista	265,357	27.8%
	Pedro Enrique Alfonso Barrios	Radical Radical Party of Chile Radical Party of Chile may refer to the:*Radical Party *Social Democrat Radical Party... /Social Christian Conservative	190,360	20.0%
	Salvador Allende Gossens Salvador Allende Salvador Allende Gossens was a Chilean physician and politician who is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in Latin America....	Frente del Pueblo Socialist Party of Chile The Socialist Party of Chile is a political party, that is part of the center-left Coalition of Parties for Democracy coalition. Its historical leader was the late President of Chile Salvador Allende Gossens, who was deposed by General Pinochet in 1973...	51,975	5.4%
	blanks/nulls		2,971
	Total valid votes		954,131	100%

Source:

Confirmation by Congress

Ibáñez, however, failed to obtain an absolute majority, and thus, had to be confirmed by Congress, which chose on October 24, 1952 among the top two majorities. The voting was the following:

Candidate	Votes	%
Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Carlos Ibáñez del Campo General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo was a Chilean Army officer and political figure. He served as dictator between 1927 and 1931 and as constitutional President from 1952 to 1958.- The coups of 1924 and 1925 :...	132	91.67
Arturo Matte Larraín	12	8.33
blanks	30
Total valid votes	144

Source: