1964 Chilean presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Chile on 4 September 1964.[1] The result was a victory for Eduardo Frei Montalva of the Christian Democratic Party, who received 56% of the vote.

1964 Chilean presidential election
September 4, 1964
 
Nominee Eduardo Frei Montalva Salvador Allende Julio Durán
Party Christian Democratic Socialist Radical
Alliance Liberal
United Conservative		 Popular Action Front
Popular vote 1,409,012 977,902 125,233
Percentage 56.1% 38.9% 5.0%
President before election

Jorge Alessandri
Independent

 Elected President

Eduardo Frei Montalva
Christian Democrat

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]

Campaign

The Church Committee of the US Senate revealed in 1975 that the Central Intelligence Agency interfered substantially with the election to prevent the accession of Marxist Salvador Allende. 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.[3][4]

The U.S. was countering the influence of the Soviet Union who was also supporting Allende with $50,000 to $400,000 every year between 1960 and 1969.[5]

Results
Candidate Party Votes %
Eduardo Frei MontalvaChristian Democratic Party1,409,01256.1
Salvador AllendeSocialist Party977,90238.9
Julio Durán NeumannRadical Party125,2335.0
Invalid/blank votes18,550–
Total2,530,697100
Registered voters/turnout2,915,12186.8
Source: Nohlen

References
  1. Nohlen, D (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume II, p262 ISBN 978-0-19-928358-3
  2. Nohlen, p259
  3. Church Committee (1975). "Covert Action in Chile: 1963-1973".
  4. Johnson, Loch (2007). Strategic Intelligence. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780313065286. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  5. Gustafon, Kristian. Hostile Intent: U.S. Covert Operations in Chile, 1964–1974. Potomac Books Inc. ISBN 9781612343594.
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