ELECTION RESULTS IN CHILE
It was reported in Washington that when the results of the September 4 election in Chile were announced, the sighs of relief in the State Department and White House were the loudest since the 1948 election in Italy when it was thought that the Communist party there might win a majority. (At that time President Truman was rumored to be readying the armed forces; and the United States was swept by one of the most intense war scares of the whole postwar period.) The Johnson administration, visualizing the possibility of the FRAP [Frente Revolucionario de Accién Popular] winning a majority in Chile,
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saw one more major crisis looming on the international horizon. Even though the FRAP was only a Chilean version of the "popular front," its victory could touch off a revolutionary process that might end in a situation comparable to the one in Cuba. ~
The official returns, as announced by the Chilean Ministry of Interior, were as follows: .
Eduardo Frei Montalva, candidate of the Christian Democrats, received 1,404,809 votes.
Salvador Allende Gossens, candidate of the FRAP, received 975,210 votes.
Julio Duran, candidate of the Radicals, ended up with only 128,550 votes,
These results registered popular repudiation of the government of President Jorge Allessandri and a shift toward the left although a more moderate one than the leaders of the FRAP had hoped for, (Fol~ lowers of Khrushchev were even under the illusion that the eleotion might demonstrate the feasibility of actually achieving, for the first time in history, a socialist overturn along the peaceful" road, )
Allende campaigned for nationalization of the holdings of American imperialist interests in Chile, for "socialism," and for a radical agrarian reform, Frei advocated only that Chile should receive a bigger share in American exploitation of the country's resources and that some mild social reforms should be undertaken. He was especially careful not to antagonize the American interests,
The main factor that determined the outcome of the election was the exclusion of a big part of the electorate from the ballot box because of literacy requirements, In addition, landholders, capital~ ists and agents of American imperialism -- the whole camp of reaotion, in fact -- rallied behind Frei as a "lesser evil" in order to block a victory by Allende,
The oounterrevolutionary victory in Brazil last April also acted as a depressing factor in Chile as it has throughout Latin America,
Frei and his well-wishers in the State Department gained more time for capitalism in Chile but also received notice that it is only a breathing spell. The new president is faced with problems of crisis proportions inherited from Alessandri, These include industrial and agricultural stagnation, massive unemployment, bitter poverty, illiteracy, utterly inadequate housing and all the associated evils of these scourges. The agrarian problem is eloquently indicated by the fact that 2,800 holdings of more than 1,000 hectares each [one hectare =2,47 acres | cover seventy-five per cent of the arable land.
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