1989 Chilean general election
14 December 1989
Presidential election
Turnout94.72% Increase
 
Candidate Patricio Aylwin Hernán Büchi Francisco Javier Errázuriz
Party PDC Independent Independent
Alliance Concertación DP Liberal–Socialist
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

Parliamentary election
All 120 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
38 of 47 seats in the Senate
Turnout94.73% Increase
Party % Seats
Chamber of Deputies
Concertación 51.49 69
Democracy and Progress 34.18 48
Unity for Democracy 5.31 2
Independent 1.88 1
Senate
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]

The centre-left coalition Concertación was rather united and confident. Its candidate Patricio Aylwin, a Christian Democrat, behaved as if he had won and refused a second television debate with Büchi. Büchi attacked Aylwin on a remark he had made concerning that inflation rate of 20% was not much and he also accused Aylwin of making secret agreements with the Communist Party of Chile, a party that was not part of Concertación.[2] Aylwin spoke with strength about the need to clarify human rights violations but did not confront the dictatorship for it, in contrast Büchi as a regime collaborator lacked any credibility when dealing with human rights violations.[2]

Büchi and Errázuriz lost to Patricio Aylwin. The electoral system meant that the largely Pinochet-sympathetic right was overrepresented in parliament[2] in such way that it could block any reform to the constitution.[2] This over-representation was crucial for UDI to obtain places in parliament and secure its political future.[2] Pinochet declared himself to be satisfied with the election. The far-left and the far-right performed poorly in the election.[2]

Results

President

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

Senate

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
Liberal–SocialistLiberal 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

Region Concertación Democracy and Progress Party of the South Alliance of the Centre Liberal–Socialist National Unity for Democracy Independent
I Región 47.13% 30.64% 0.00% 0.00% 3.85% 0.00% 0.00% 18.37%
II Región 41.38% 34.81% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 23.81% 0.00%
III Región 61.82% 33.36% 0.00% 0.00% 2.45% 0.00% 0.00% 2.37%
IV Región 36.85% 35.82% 0.00% 5.63% 0.00% 0.00% 21.70% 0.00%
V Región 48.77% 35.20% 0.00% 0.00% 7.49% 0.00% 8.55% 0.00%
VI Región 59.22% 27.54% 0.00% 11.22% 2.02% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
VII Región 59.61% 34.23% 0.00% 0.00% 6.17% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
VIII Región 46.90% 34.76% 0.00% 4.01% 0.00% 0.00% 14.33% 0.00%
IX Región 49.95% 32.77% 11.84% 0.00% 0.00% 5.44% 0.00% 0.00%
X Región 57.04% 42.96% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
XI Región 55.99% 40.78% 0.00% 1.91% 1.31% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
XII Región 66.23% 31.11% 0.00% 2.66% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
Región Metropolitana 59.90% 35.03% 0.00% 0.00% 4.24% 0.83% 0.00% 0.00%
Source: Servel Electoral

Chamber of Deputies

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
Liberal–SocialistLiberal 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

Region Concertación Democracy and Progress Party of the South Alliance of the Centre Liberal–Socialist National Unity for Democracy Independent
I Región 47.70% 37.16% 0.00% 1.84% 4.68% 0.00% 7.52% 1.10%
II Región 59.78% 30.32% 0.00% 1.62% 4.58% 0.00% 0.00% 3.70%
III Región 44.50% 32.02% 0.00% 2.09% 2.76% 0.00% 16.88% 1.76%
IV Región 57.73% 33.71% 0.00% 4.68% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 3.88%
V Región 49.69% 35.35% 0.00% 3.60% 4.16% 0.00% 6.27% 0.94%
VI Región 47.34% 33.10% 0.00% 3.21% 2.50% 0.00% 13.15% 0.71%
VII Región 58.70% 32.47% 0.00% 2.13% 0.00% 1.76% 0.00% 4.94%
VIII Región 47.08% 33.61% 0.00% 5.51% 0.00% 0.00% 8.83% 4.97%
IX Región 45.51% 32.95% 9.27% 1.61% 0.00% 4.72% 4.50% 1.43%
X Región 51.88% 36.87% 2.59% 0.17% 0.00% 3.16% 4.23% 1.10%
XI Región 45.79% 39.75% 0.74% 1.54% 0.78% 1.84% 9.57% 0.00%
XII Región 65.03% 31.58% 0.00% 3.39% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
Región Metropolitana 52.70% 34.53% 0.00% 1.69% 5.36% 0.49% 4.40% 0.84%
Source: Servel Electoral

References

  1. ↑ Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume II, p262 ISBN 978-0-19-928358-3
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Angell, Alan; Pollack, Benny (1990). "The Chilean Elections of 1989". Bulletin of Latin American Research. Society for Latin American Studies. 9 (1): 1–23.
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