Jump to content

1989 Chilean general election

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1989 Chilean general election

14 December 1989
Presidential election
Turnout94.72% (Increase 11.25pp)
 
Candidate Patricio Aylwin Hernán Büchi Francisco Javier Errázuriz
Party PDC Independent Independent
Alliance Concertación DP LiberalSocialist
Popular vote 3,850,571 2,052,116 1,077,172
Percentage 55.17% 29.40% 15.43%

Results by commune

President before election

Augusto Pinochet
Independent

Elected President

Patricio Aylwin
PDC

Chamber of Deputies
 1973
1993 

All 120 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
61 seats needed for a majority
Turnout94.73% (Increase 12.98pp)
Party Vote % Seats
Concertación 51.49 69
Democracy and Progress 34.18 48
Unity for Democracy 5.31 2
Independents 1.88 1
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Senate
 1973
1993 

38 of the 47 seats in the Senate
Turnout94.73%
Party Vote % Seats
Concertación 54.63 22
Democracy and Progress 34.85 16
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Presidential election ballot paper

General elections were held in Chile on 14 December 1989,[1] bringing an end to the military regime that had been in place since 1973. Patricio Aylwin of Concertación alliance was elected President, whilst the alliance also won a majority of seats in the Chamber of Deputies and in the elected Senate seats.

From the 1989 elections onwards the military had officially left the political future of the country to civilians to be elected. Pinochet did not endorse any candidate publicly. Former dictatorship minister Hernán Büchi ran for president as candidate of the two right-wing parties, RN and UDI. He had little political experience and was a relatively young (40 years) technocrat credited for Chile's good economic performance in the later half of the 1980s. The right parties faced several problems in the elections: there was considerable infighting between RN and UDI, Büchi had only very reluctantly accepted to run for president and right-wing politicians struggled to define their position towards the Pinochet regime. In addition to this right-wing populist Francisco Javier Errázuriz Talavera ran independently for president and made several election promises Büchi could not match.[2]

Definition of candidacies

[edit]

Concertación

[edit]

Candidate Aylwin prevailed in a political negotiation within the so-called Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia, which at that time was made up of 17 political movements opposed to the military dictatorship. However, the process was not simple. The situation of each party was as follows:

  • Patricio Aylwin had to prevail within the Christian Democratic Party (PDC) itself against two other contenders: Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle and Gabriel Valdés Subercaseaux. It was a controversial process, saturated with accusations, including an episode involving the theft of internal voting records known as "Carmengate" (named as such for the then-address of the headquarters of the PDC, Carmen 8, in Downtown Santiago). During this process, Andrés Zaldívar was even proposed as a consensus candidate. Aylwin ultimately secured the support of his party and was proclaimed on February 5.[3]
  • The Radical Party put forward its leader Enrique Silva Cimma, who withdrew his candidacy on June 10 to support Patricio Aylwin.[4]
  • The Social Democracy Party put forward the candidacy of the lawyer Eugenio Velasco, who later withdrew his bid and on July 3 announced his support for Aylwin.[4]
  • The renewed sector of the Socialist Party (PS-Núñez) and the Party for Democracy put forward the figure of Ricardo Lagos, known for having confronted General Pinochet through television cameras. Both parties officially announced their support for Aylwin’s candidacy on June 23.[4]
  • The Humanist Party presented, in a testimonial manner, the candidacy of Laura Rodríguez, who at the time was below the required age to be a candidate. Subsequently, together with The Greens, it put forward José Tomás Sáenz as its candidate.[5]
  • The Socialist Party–Almeyda proclaimed Aylwin as its candidate on June 23.[4]
  • The candidacy of the independent Alejandro Hales also emerged, president of the Independents for the No movement, supported by the Almeyda faction of the Socialist Party.[6]

The national organization, ideological moderation, and relative weight within the coalition ultimately led the Christian Democratic Party to determine the presidential candidacy. In this decision, the media prominence of Patricio Aylwin—when he previously obtained the nomination as spokesperson or “primus inter pares” among the leaders of the Concertación for the 1988 plebiscite—was influential, allowing him to secure the coalition’s backing over alternatives from the moderate left such as Ricardo Lagos, Alejandro Hales, and Enrique Silva Cimma, which were reconsidered toward the end of the process.

Aylwin’s nomination as the Concertación’s candidate took place on July 6—having already been proclaimed as their candidate by the Party of the Center Alliance on June 28 and by the Democratic Socialist Radical Party on July 2, as well as by the Christian Left on July 4—,[4][7][8]while his formal proclamation was held on July 16, 1989, at the Teatro Caupolicán, a symbol of democratic resistance during the military dictatorship, under the slogan “The people win.”[3]On August 2, the Broad Party of Socialist Left (PAIS) proclaimed Aylwin as its candidate.[9]

Democracy and Progress

[edit]

Supporters of Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship also underwent a lengthy process of deliberation to designate their candidate. The figure of Hernán Büchi—Minister of Finance and ideologue of the neoliberal reforms reintroduced in Chile after the 1982 crisis—generated sympathy due to his youthful image and his close association with the country’s supposedly successful economic recovery. However, Büchi systematically refused to accept the option of being a candidate and declined to do so in a speech delivered on May 15, 1989, which went down in Chilean political history, as he acknowledged that between his personality and the responsibility being imposed on him there existed a “vital contradiction,” thus renouncing his pre-candidacy.[3]

In that context, on August 6 National Renewal designated former Interior Minister Sergio Onofre Jarpa as its nominee through an internal vote in which he obtained 272 votes in favor, 3 against, and one blank;[10]the Radical Democracy did the same with former senator Julio Durán Neumann, while the UDI proclaimed Hernán Büchi despite his refusal.

Büchi finally accepted being a candidate on July 11,[3]and in a political negotiation, the Democracy and Progress pact and the Radical Democracy party[11]named him as their nominee under the slogan “Büchi is the man.” On August 10, he received the formal backing of National Renewal, which withdrew the support it had given to Sergio Onofre Jarpa only four days earlier.[12]

His campaign “generalissimo” was former Pinochet minister and businessman Pablo Baraona, who assumed that role for economic coordination and as a member of the coalition’s main party, National Renewal. In its initial stage, the position was held by Sebastián Piñera, also a member of National Renewal, who did not assume that role in the final candidacy.[13]

Francisco Javier Errázuriz Talavera

[edit]

However, the right did not expect a third option to emerge. Businessman Francisco Javier Errázuriz Talavera carried forward his presidential candidacy outside the political parties. Declaring himself independent, he stated that he had “voted Yes with his heart in the No” in the 1988 plebiscite, and he sought a platform close to the political center to capture votes. He was supported by the Liberal Party, the Chilean Socialist Party (an instrumental party that supported the Yes, and unrelated to the current Socialist Party), and the National Advance party, as well as the National Party and the Party of the South, all parties with local leadership and limited media reach. The campaign slogan was: “Errázuriz, the opportunity for a dignified Chile,” and his campaign generalissimo was Carlos Concha.[13]

Failed candidacies

[edit]
  • The independent candidacy of the physician and philanthropist Fernando Monckeberg Barros was rejected on August 24, 1989, after his registration with the Electoral Service, for exceeding, in his lists of sponsoring voters, the percentage permitted by law of sponsors registered in political parties.[14]
  • In some media outlets, the Independent National Unity candidacy of television host Mario Kreutzberger, “Don Francisco,” associated with the philanthropic work of the Teletón, was proposed. The presenter flatly rejected the possibility.[15]
  • The leader of the Party of Pensioners, Juan Antonio Torres Araya, was sounded out as a presidential candidate; however, he did not achieve the party’s legalization nor gather the necessary signatures to present his candidacy.[16]

Debate

[edit]

The only presidential debate took place in the main studios of Channel 13 on October 9, 1989. It was moderated by Hernán Precht and featured journalists Rosario Guzmán Errázuriz, Bernardo de la Maza, Raquel Correa, and Claudio Sánchez Venegas, whose role was to ask questions to the candidates Hernán Büchi and Patricio Aylwin. The debate, which was the first to be televised in the history of Chile and Latin America, did not include the participation of candidate Francisco Javier Errázuriz, since, as Claudio Sánchez would later explain, “we could hold a debate with four candidates, but with three it was more complicated” (alluding to the rejected candidacy of Fernando Monckeberg). According to Sánchez, Errázuriz’s absence from the debate was offset by dedicating an additional episode of the program Decisión 89 to the businessman’s candidacy.[17]

Polling

[edit]
Encuesta Fecha Aylwin Büchi Errázuriz Blank/Invalid
CERC[18] July 1989 53,8 % 28,3 % 9 %
Carta Confidencial[19] September 8–9, 1989 43,8 % 35,2 % 13,2 %
CEP/Adimark[20] October 20, 1989 47,4 % 30,2 % 11,4 % 3,5 %
Gemines[20] October 23, 1989 58,3 % 28,7 % 8,4 %
FLACSO[20] October 25, 1989 52,5 % 28,7 % 8,7 %
CERC[18] November 1989 56,4 % 27,5 % 14,1 % 2 %
Comando H. Büchi[20] November 17, 1989 34,5 % 39,3 % 9,1 %
Gemines[18] November 17 / November 24, 1989 56 % 28,7 % 12,6 %
CIS[20] November 18, 1989 56,8 % 22,8 % 8,6 %
CERC[20] November 24, 1989 56 % 31,2 % 9,8 %
Sevac[20] December 8, 1989 40,6 % 30,1 % 12,7 %
Investmerk[20] December 8, 1989 42,6 % 33,2 % 12,1 %
Consultores Asociados[20] December 9, 1989 50,8 % 34,4 % 10,7 %
Gallup[20] December 11, 1989 50,9 % 28,5 % 20,6 %
Gemines[20] December 11, 1989 55,9 % 29,1 % 12,4 %
Investigaciones[20] December 11, 1989 44 % 31 % 19 %
Bestland[20] December 12, 1989 42,9 % 25,6 % 9,8 %
CERC[20] December 12, 1989 57 % 25 % 16 %

Results

[edit]

President

[edit]
CandidatePartyVotes%
Patricio AylwinConcertación (PDC)3,850,57155.17
Hernán BüchiDemocracy and Progress (Ind.)2,052,11629.40
Francisco Javier ErrázurizIndependent1,077,17215.43
Total6,979,859100.00
Valid votes6,979,85997.50
Invalid/blank votes178,8682.50
Total votes7,158,727100.00
Registered voters/turnout7,557,53794.72
Source: SERVEL

By region

[edit]
Region Aylwin % Büchi % Errázuriz %
I Tarapacá 82,387 49.66 52,293 31.52 31,224 18.82
II Antofagasta 120,679 57.63 52,023 24.84 36,710 17.53
III Atacama 67,803 60.67 33,856 30.30 10,094 9.03
IV Coquimbo 141,318 57.18 75,795 30.67 30,020 12.15
V Valparaíso 398,096 52.61 219,152 28.96 139,505 18.43
VI O'Higgins 215,945 58.65 109,155 29.65 43,072 11.70
VII Maule 251,809 57.04 125,695 28.47 63,944 14.49
VIII Biobío 505,439 56.29 223,677 24.91 168,792 18.80
IX Araucanía 186,200 47.16 112,964 28.61 95,654 24.23
X Los Lagos 242,071 51.08 137,360 28.99 94,466 19.93
XI Aysén 20,390 54.72 11,556 31.01 5,319 14.27
XII Magallanes 48,910 60.37 23,941 29.55 8,162 10.07
RM Santiago Metropolitan 1,569,524 56.17 874,649 31.30 350,210 12.53
Total: 6,979,859 3,850,571 55.17 2,052,116 29.40 1,077,172 15.43

Senate

[edit]
Party or allianceVotes%Seats
ConcertaciónChristian Democratic Party2,188,32932.1813
Party for Democracy820,39312.064
Radical Party of Chile147,3642.172
Humanist Party35,5340.520
Independents523,3697.703
Total3,714,98954.6322
Democracy and ProgressNational Renewal731,67810.765
Independent Democratic Union347,4455.112
Independents1,290,88618.989
Total2,370,00934.8516
LiberalSocialistLiberal Party10,1290.150
Chilean Socialist Party4,2540.060
Independents199,6182.940
Total214,0013.150
Alliance of the CentreRadical Democracy28,6950.420
National Advance6970.010
Independents62,0150.910
Total91,4071.340
Broad Party of Socialist Left288,3974.240
Party of the South45,5840.670
National Party43,7410.640
Independents32,2820.470
Appointed senators9
Total6,800,410100.0047
Valid votes6,800,41095.00
Invalid/blank votes358,0325.00
Total votes7,158,442100.00
Registered voters/turnout7,556,61394.73
Source: Nohlen

By region

[edit]
Region Constituency Concertación Democracy and Progress Party of the South Alliance of the Centre Liberal–Socialist National Unity for Democracy Independent
I Tarapacá I Tarapacá 47.13% 30.64% 0.00% 0.00% 3.85% 0.00% 0.00% 18.37%
II Antofagasta II Antofagasta 41.38% 34.81% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 23.81% 0.00%
III Atacama III Atacama 61.82% 33.36% 0.00% 0.00% 2.45% 0.00% 0.00% 2.37%
IV Coquimbo IV Coquimbo 36.85% 35.82% 0.00% 5.63% 0.00% 0.00% 21.70% 0.00%
V Valparaíso V Valparaíso Cordillera 48.77% 35.20% 0.00% 0.00% 7.49% 0.00% 8.55% 0.00%
VI Valparaíso Costa
RM Santiago Metropolitan VII Metropolitana Poniente 59.90% 35.03% 0.00% 0.00% 4.24% 0.83% 0.00% 0.00%
VIII Metropolitana Oriente
VI O'Higgins IX O'Higgins 59.22% 27.54% 0.00% 11.22% 2.02% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
VII Maule X Maule Norte 59.61% 34.23% 0.00% 0.00% 6.17% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
XI Maule Sur
VIII Biobío XII Biobío Costa 46.90% 34.76% 0.00% 4.01% 0.00% 0.00% 14.33% 0.00%
XIII Biobío Cordillera
IX Araucanía XIV Araucanía Norte 49.95% 32.77% 11.84% 0.00% 0.00% 5.44% 0.00% 0.00%
XV Araucanía Sur
X Los Lagos XVI Los Lagos Norte 57.04% 42.96% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
XVII Los Lagos Sur
XI Aysén XVIII Aysén 55.99% 40.78% 0.00% 1.91% 1.31% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
XII Magallanes XIX Magallanes 66.23% 31.11% 0.00% 2.66% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
Source: Servel Electoral

Chamber of Deputies

[edit]
Party or allianceVotes%Seats
ConcertaciónChristian Democratic Party1,766,34725.9938
Party for Democracy778,50111.4516
Radical Party of Chile268,1033.945
Humanist Party52,2250.771
The Greens14,9420.220
Independents619,5959.129
Total3,499,71351.4969
Democracy and ProgressNational Renewal 1,242,43218.2829
Independent Democratic Union667,3699.8211
Independents413,7806.098
Total2,323,58134.1848
Unity for DemocracyBroad Party of Socialist Left297,8974.382
Democratic Socialist Radical Party1,3300.020
Independents61,3740.900
Total360,6015.312
LiberalSocialistLiberal Party47,2370.690
Chilean Socialist Party10,3980.150
Independents148,5032.180
Total206,1383.030
Alliance of the CentreNational Advance57,5740.850
Radical Democracy28,5750.420
Independents91,7931.350
Total177,9422.620
National Party53,8190.790
Party of the South47,3870.700
Independents127,9411.881
Total6,797,122100.00120
Valid votes6,797,12294.95
Invalid/blank votes361,5245.05
Total votes7,158,646100.00
Registered voters/turnout7,556,61394.73
Source: SERVEL

By region

[edit]
Region District Concertación Democracy and Progress Party of the South Alliance of the Centre Liberal–Socialist National Unity for Democracy Independent
I Tarapacá 1 Arica 47.70% 37.16% 0.00% 1.84% 4.68% 0.00% 7.52% 1.10%
2 Iquique
II Antofagasta 3 Calama 59.78% 30.32% 0.00% 1.62% 4.58% 0.00% 0.00% 3.70%
4 Antofagasta
III Atacama 5 Copiapó 44.50% 32.02% 0.00% 2.09% 2.76% 0.00% 16.88% 1.76%
6 Vallenar
IV Coquimbo 7 La Serena 57.73% 33.71% 0.00% 4.68% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 3.88%
8 Coquimbo
9 Illapel
V Valparaíso 10 Quillota 49.69% 35.35% 0.00% 3.60% 4.16% 0.00% 6.27% 0.94%
11 Los Andes
12 Quilpué
13 Valparaíso
14 Viña del Mar
15 San Antonio
RM Santiago Metropolitan 16 Pudahuel 52.70% 34.53% 0.00% 1.69% 5.36% 0.49% 4.40% 0.84%
17 Conchalí
18 Cerro Navia
19 Independencia
20 Maipú
21 Providencia
22 Santiago
23 Las Condes
24 La Reina
25 La Granja
26 La Florida
27 La Cisterna
28 San Miguel
29 Puente Alto
30 San Bernardo
31 Melipilla
VI O'Higgins 32 Rancagua 47.34% 33.10% 0.00% 3.21% 2.50% 0.00% 13.15% 0.71%
33 Rengo
34 San Fernando
35 Santa Cruz
VII Maule 36 Curicó 58.70% 32.47% 0.00% 2.13% 0.00% 1.76% 0.00% 4.94%
37 Talca
38 Constitución
39 Linares
40 Cauquenes
VIII Biobío 41 Chillán 47.08% 33.61% 0.00% 5.51% 0.00% 0.00% 8.83% 4.97%
42 Quillón
43 Talcahuano
44 Concepción
45 Coronel
46 Lota
47 Los Ángeles
IX Araucanía 48 Angol 45.51% 32.95% 9.27% 1.61% 0.00% 4.72% 4.50% 1.43%
49 Lautaro
50 Temuco
51 Nueva Imperial
52 Villarrica
X Los Lagos 53 Valdivia 51.88% 36.87% 2.59% 0.17% 0.00% 3.16% 4.23% 1.10%
54 La Unión
55 Osorno
56 Puerto Varas
57 Puerto Montt
58 Castro
XI Aysén 59 Coyhaique 45.79% 39.75% 0.74% 1.54% 0.78% 1.84% 9.57% 0.00%
XII Magallanes 60 Punta Arenas 65.03% 31.58% 0.00% 3.39% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
Source: Servel Electoral

References

[edit]
  1. Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume II, p262 ISBN 978-0-19-928358-3
  2. Angell, Alan; Pollack, Benny (1990). "The Chilean Elections of 1989". Bulletin of Latin American Research. 9 (1). Society for Latin American Studies: 1–23.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Cronología 1989". www.siglo20.cl. Archived from the original on 2005-02-15. Retrieved 2026-02-14.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 «La Concertación y el Consenso tras Aylwin» (PDF). El Mercurio. July 23, 1989. Retrieved July 17, 2023.
  5. "Partidos Humanista y Los Verdes - Declaración conjunta" (PDF). archivospublicos.cl. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-02-21. Retrieved 2026-02-14.
  6. Délano, Manuel (1989-02-04). "Patricio Aylwin, candidato favorito de la DC chilena a la presidencia". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2026-02-14.
  7. "Aylwin: también el PAC". Memoria Chilena: Portal (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-02-14.
  8. "Patricio Aylwin, nominado candidato del Partido Radical Socialista Democrático" (PDF). www.archivopatricioaylwin.cl. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-08-07. Retrieved 2026-02-14.
  9. "PAIS proclama a Aylwin". Memoria Chilena: Portal (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-02-14.
  10. "Jarpa: 272 votos a favor y sólo tres en contra" (PDF). www.archivopatricioaylwin.cl. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-08-07. Retrieved 2026-02-14.
  11. "La otra "bajada" que sacudió a la derecha: La contradicción de Büchi". Emol (in Spanish). 2013-07-18. Retrieved 2026-02-14.
  12. "Büchi será el candidato único de centroderecha" (PDF). www.archivopatricioaylwin.cl. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-08-07. Retrieved 2026-02-14.
  13. 1 2 Arturo Arriagada (October 2006). «Jefes de campaña en elecciones presidenciales en Chile, 1970-2005». Retrieved August 14, 2015.
  14. Hojman, Eugenio (1990). «Memorial del Gobierno Militar (1973-1989)». Análisis (Santiago de Chile: Emisión). p. 300.
  15. "¿Quién es Don Francisco políticamente?". Interferencia (in Spanish). 2020-04-03. Retrieved 2026-02-15.
  16. "Al ritmo de la banda tricolor". Memoria Chilena: Portal (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-02-15.
  17. Bazán, Ignacio (2017-09-23). "Historia oculta del primer debate presidencial". La Tercera (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-02-15.
  18. 1 2 3 "Una sola patita". Memoria Chilena: Portal (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-02-15.
  19. Encuesta Presidencial. Quincenario Carta Confidencial. September 8, 1989.
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 "Al tenor de las encuestas". Memoria Chilena: Portal (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-02-15.
1989 Chilean general election
Morty Proxy This is a proxified and sanitized view of the page, visit original site.