1988 Chilean presidential referendum

1988 Chilean presidential referendum
5 October 1988 (1988-10-05)
Plebiscite: President of the Republic
Augusto Pinochet Ugarte
Results
Choice
 Votes %
Yes 3,119,110 44.01%
No 3,967,579 55.99%
Valid votes 7,086,689 97.72%
Invalid or blank votes 165,254 2.28%
Total votes 7,251,943 100.00%
Registered voters/turnout 7,429,404 97.61%
Results by commune

A referendum on whether Augusto Pinochet, the head of a military dictatorship, should become president for eight years under resumed civilian rule was held in Chile on 5 October 1988. The "No" side won with 56% of the vote, marking the end of Pinochet's 16+1⁄2-year rule. Democratic elections were held in 1989, leading to the establishment of a new government in 1990.

Background

Army General Augusto Pinochet and leaders of the Air Force, Navy, and police force took power on 11 September 1973, in a coup d'état that deposed the democratically elected Socialist President Salvador Allende. Allende committed suicide as the presidential palace was being bombarded.[1] A military junta – led by Pinochet, Air Force General Gustavo Leigh, Navy Admiral José Toribio Merino, and Carabinero Chief General César Mendoza – was sworn in the same evening.

The following day, the four drafted an official document suspending the 1925 constitution and Congress, establishing the Junta as the country's supreme authority. Pinochet was designated as its first president, and the four verbally agreed to rotate the office. Shortly after, the Junta formed an advisory committee, which Pinochet successfully staffed with Army officers loyal to himself. One of their initial recommendations was to discard the idea of a rotating presidency, arguing it would create too many administrative problems and lead to confusion.[2]

In March 1974, six months after the Junta's establishment, Pinochet verbally attacked the Christian Democratic Party, stating that there was no set timetable for a return to civilian rule. On 18 December 1974, Pinochet was declared the Supreme Leader of the nation.[2] After that date, the junta functioned strictly as a legislative body until the return to democracy in 1990.

On 24 September 1973, the junta set up a commission to draft a blueprint for a new constitution. By 5 October 1978, the commission had completed its work. Over the next two years, the proposal was studied by the Chilean Council of State, presided over by former president Jorge Alessandri. In July 1980, the Council submitted a Constitution draft to Pinochet and the Junta. A constitutional referendum, considered "highly irregular"[3] and "fraudulent"[4] by some observers, occurred on 11 September 1980, in which 67% of voters approved the new constitution.[5]

The Constitution took effect on 11 March 1981, establishing a "transition period." During this time, Pinochet would wield executive power and the Junta would hold legislative power for the next eight years. Before this period ended, a presidential candidate was to be proposed by the Commanders-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and the Carabinero Chief General for the following eight-year term. The candidate would be ratified by registered voters in a national plebiscite.

Nomination of Pinochet

From around 1986, Pinochet made his intention to stand as the regime's candidate increasingly explicit. On 11 July of that year, he declared publicly that "nobody can deny the government's right to project itself beyond 1989." On 7 September, he survived an assassination attempt by the Frente Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez (FPMR) on a road near the Cajón del Maipo, escaping unharmed while five of his bodyguards were killed.

In the last years of the dictatorship, the commanders-in-chief of the Navy, Air Force, and Carabineros distanced themselves from Pinochet, expressing their wish for a civilian to represent the regime in the 1988 plebiscite. However, Pinochet imposed himself as the candidate.[6] On 30 August 1988, the commanders-in-chief of the Armed Forces and the Director General of Carabineros formally proposed Pinochet as their candidate. The plebiscite was called for Wednesday 5 October 1988.

Electoral registration

Electoral registers had been closed since 19 November 1973, when the military junta had decreed their cancellation. Under a 1986 organic constitutional law on electoral registration, the registers reopened on 25 February 1987—the first time Chileans could register to vote since the coup. The first person to register in the commune of Santiago was Augusto Pinochet himself.[7] Ultimately, close to 91% of eligible citizens registered, a turnout that unnerved both the government and the opposition: the regime feared a mass registration of opponents, while the opposition worried about possible double-registration to sabotage the result.

The plebiscite

The plebiscite – as detailed in the 1980 Constitution – consisted of two choices:

  • Yes: the proposed candidate is approved. Pinochet takes office on 11 March 1989 for an eight-year mandate, and parliamentary elections are held nine months after he is sworn in. The Junta continues to exercise legislative power until the newly elected Congress takes office on 11 March 1990.
  • No: the proposed candidate is rejected. Pinochet and the Junta continue in power for another year and a half. Presidential and parliamentary elections are held three months before Pinochet's term expires. The newly elected president and Congress take office on 11 March 1990.

Political endorsements

Yes

No

Null vote

  • Chilean Socialist Party (Partido Socialista Chileno) A populist party created by pro-Junta factions to draw support away from the "No" vote.[8]

The campaign

The campaign is regarded, along with the registration process, as one of the key factors that led to the victory of the No side in the plebiscite.

For the first time in the history of Chile, both options were guaranteed free electoral advertising spaces—franjas—of 15 minutes each, broadcast late at night or early in the morning. (Separate prime-time slots were also available, but only to the government.) The first franjas aired on 5 September 1988 at 11 pm, one month before the referendum. They continued to broadcast until 1 October, with Saturday and Sunday airings scheduled for 11:30 in the morning. On the first day the No franja was broadcast before the Yes franja; the order alternated on subsequent days.

The No campaign

The No side used a rainbow as its main symbol—designed by Raúl Menjíbar—with the intention of symbolising the plural views of the opposition (each member party had its own colour depicted in the rainbow: orange for the Humanists, green for the Social Democrats and ecologists, red for the Socialists, blue for the Christian Democrats, yellow for the democrats) and, at the same time, the hope of a better Chile and a more prosperous future.

The campaign was directed by Eugenio García, who served as creative director of the television franja, with the participation of José Manuel Salcedo, psychologist Jorge Cucurella, publicist Ernesto Merino, and a political scientist. The production team, composed of Chilean and American advertising professionals, combined sharp criticism—including testimony by victims of torture and relatives of the disappeared—with an optimistic tone, stressing that a No victory would not mean a return to the socialist system of former president Salvador Allende, but the restoration of democracy. This message was reinforced by the appearance of right-wing leaders standing for No.

A popular jingle was composed—with lyrics by Sergio Bravo, music by Jaime de Aguirre, and performed by Rosa Escobar and Claudio Guzmán—with the main slogan of the campaign, "Chile, la alegría ya viene" (Chile, joy is on its way). Both Chilean and international celebrities starred in the No spots, including Patricio Bañados (a renowned journalist who had been banned from television by the Junta), Sting, Jane Fonda, Richard Dreyfuss, Sara Montiel, Robert Blake, Paloma San Basilio, Christopher Reeve, and Chilean folk singer Florcita Motuda, who composed two songs for the campaign. One advertisement featured a middle-aged woman describing her experience of being kidnapped and tortured after the 1973 coup, followed by her son Carlos Caszely, one of Chile's top footballers of the 1970s and 1980s,[9] and a critic of the Pinochet regime.[10]

The Yes campaign

The Yes campaign had two main goals: creating fear amongst voters by reminding them of the chaotic situation of Chile in 1973, with the consequent coup d'état (a background blamed on supporters of the No side), and improving the general perception of Augusto Pinochet, regarded by the public as an arrogant and authoritarian leader. In its early stages, the campaign focused on economic achievements under the regime, but when this failed to appeal to viewers the strategy shifted toward criticising the No adverts and publishing polls purporting to show massive support for Pinochet.

The Yes franja was entrusted to members of the Armed Forces and an Argentinian advertising agency headed by Marcelo López, with a team that included Manfredo Mayol, Carlos Alberto Délano, Joaquín Lavín, Jovino Novoa, and Jorge Eugenin, director of the División de Comunicación Social (Dinacos). The spots included jingles with lyrics supportive of the Junta, and songs that verged on promoting a cult of personality around Pinochet, such as the main campaign anthem, "Un horizonte de esperanza" (A Horizon of Hope), and a Rapa Nui folk song, "Iorana, Presidente" (Hello, President), the latter composed by then 8-year-old Laura Alarcón Rapu. Singers Marcelo Hernández, Willy Bascuñán, Arturo Giolito, Ginette Acevedo, Patricia Maldonado, and Benjamín Mackenna; television presenters Jorge Rencoret and Katherine Salosny; and athletes Patricio Cornejo, Hans Gildemeister, and Elías Figueroa all appeared in the Yes franja.

From 18 September, the Yes franja was restructured under a new format closely mirroring that of the No—a presenter, Hernán Serrano, introduced each topic, and more personal testimonies were added—alongside a more aggressive strategy of mocking and parodying the opposition's spots. The Minister of the Interior Sergio Fernández, one of the main coordinators of the official campaign, later acknowledged:

The (campaign) results were poor. In a few days nobody could ignore the evident technical superiority of the No campaign: superior in argumentation, superior in filming, superior in music. Its signature tune, with the slogan "La alegría ya viene" (Joy is coming) as its main element, was so catchy that even the Yes campaign creatives hummed it during their brainstorming sessions.

Rallies

Both sides called for massive rallies. On 22 September the No side launched the March of Joy (Marcha de la alegría), a ten-day march that brought together supporters from the northernmost city of Arica and the southern city of Puerto Montt, converging on Santiago.[11] These rallies were often halted by the Carabineros or the secret police on claims of suspected attacks, or for no stated reason, and demonstrators were attacked by armed pro-Yes supporters without police intervention. On 2 October the Yes campaign called for a large rally in downtown Santiago. News media coverage of both rallies was widely considered to be biased in favour of the Yes side.

Foreign interference

Hungarian-American investor and philanthropist George Soros provided advice to the "No" campaign, according to Máximo Pacheco Matte. The support was reflected "in carrying out studies and obtaining data that gave us information that had been hidden from us for 17 years (...) What we learned there was crucial for the preparation of the famous television program for the 'No' campaign and for the victory in the plebiscite."[12]

Likewise, the organization created by the United States Congress, the National Endowment for Democracy—linked to the CIA[13]—together with the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs contributed one million dollars to the "No" campaign and sent observers to the plebiscite.[14] These observers helped establish a parallel vote-counting system in conjunction with German think tanks and the "Committee for Free Elections." Furthermore, David Altman notes that Pinochet allowed "a certain degree of freedom to carry out a mobilization campaign against the regime."[15]

Electorate

Voting eligibility extended to individuals aged 18 or older on election day, who were either Chilean citizens or foreigners with legal residency in Chile for a minimum of five years. Only those listed on the electoral roll were permitted to vote, although registration was not obligatory. Registered Chilean citizens were required to participate in the voting process.

Election night

Rumours of a possible boycott of the plebiscite had gathered force following a suspicious power outage on the night of 4 October. Days earlier, the governments of the United Kingdom and the United States had been alerted to a possible suspension of the referendum, with sources close to Pinochet reportedly planning to provoke violence as a pretext for calling it off. Both governments contacted Pinochet, who promised to accept the result.

On the morning of 5 October, a tense calm prevailed at the more than 22,000 polling stations across the country. Pinochet voted at the polling station at the Instituto Nacional at 10:10 am.

As early returns came in during the evening, results reported by the opposition's parallel counting system showed the No side winning decisively. The government's own reporting fell behind and appeared to contradict these figures: at 7:30 pm the government's first official partial count, based on only 72 tables, showed the Yes leading with 57% against 40% for the No—figures the opposition's command denounced as manipulated. Later partial tallies gradually narrowed and then reversed that picture.

At midnight, Air Force commander Fernando Matthei publicly acknowledged to reporters, as he entered La Moneda to meet Pinochet, that the "No" side had won the vote. At 12:18 am on 6 October, Pinochet met with his ministers and announced: "Gentlemen, the plebiscite is lost. I want your resignations immediately. That is all." Shortly after, he met with the full junta.

At 2:00 am, the government's under-secretary Alberto Cardemil appeared before the media to announce the final official count: the Yes had obtained 43% against 54.7% for the No.

Aftermath

After his electoral defeat in the 1988 plebiscite, Pinochet reportedly considered plans for an auto-coup to remain in power.[16] As early returns indicated a victory for the "No" campaign, official reporting of results was suspended, and television coverage ceased on election night.[17] According to later accounts, Pinochet sought to create a pretext for retaining control by provoking unrest in the streets, but the Carabineros, under General Director Rodolfo Stange, refused an order to lift the police cordon in Santiago that was preventing large street gatherings and potential disturbances.[16]

During the junta meeting that followed, Pinochet proposed granting himself extraordinary powers to have the armed forces secure the capital and restore control. Matthei refused outright, reportedly tearing up a draft decree that would have authorized emergency powers. The other junta members—Admiral José Toribio Merino of the Navy and General Stange of the Carabineros—took the same stance, insisting that the result be respected.[18] Without their backing, Pinochet was forced to accept the outcome of the plebiscite and begin the constitutional transition to civilian rule. In a letter published in El Mercurio on 10 January 2012, however, Matthei stated that he had never actually torn up any decree and that there had never been any genuine intent to disregard the plebiscite result.[19]

The remaining junta members, who had favored the idea of a civilian candidate rather than Pinochet continuing in power, regarded the plebiscite as his personal defeat.[6] In 1989, Pinochet and the opposition negotiated a series of constitutional reforms intended to ease the transition. The 54 amendments were approved by 91 percent of voters in a national referendum held on 30 July 1989. Presidential and parliamentary elections took place as scheduled on 14 December 1989, with Christian Democrat Patricio Aylwin winning the presidency with 55 percent of the vote. Aylwin and the newly elected Congress took office on 11 March 1990, marking the formal end of military rule in Chile.

Results

Results by regions, provinces and communes
  Voted Yes
  Voted No
ChoiceVotes%
For3,119,11044.01
Against3,967,57955.99
Total7,086,689100.00
Valid votes7,086,68997.72
Invalid votes94,5941.30
Blank votes70,6600.97
Total votes7,251,943100.00
Registered voters/turnout7,429,40497.61
Source: Tribunal Calificador de Elecciones

Result by regions

Region «Yes» % «No» %
I Tarapacá 75,849 44.71 93,800 55.29
II Antofagasta 84,259 39.32 130,052 60.68
III Atacama 49,400 43.84 63,293 56.16
IV Coquimbo 114,250 46.02 133,997 53.98
V Valparaíso 324,058 42.69 434,997 57.31
VI O'Higgins 164,430 44.08 208,574 55.92
VII Maule 220,742 48.83 231,348 51.17
VIII Biobío 409,513 44.71 506,513 55.29
IX Araucanía 220,090 54.05 187,071 45.95
X Los Lagos 242,457 50.15 240,984 49.85
XI Aysén 19,238 49.99 19,245 50.01
XII Magallanes 35,549 42.36 48,372 57.64
RM Santiago Metropolitan 1,159,275 40.98 1,669,333 59.02
Total: 7,086,689 3,119,110 44.01 3,967,579 55.99

The 2012 film No presented a fictionalized account of the "No" television campaign. It was the first Chilean film nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 85th Academy Awards.

See also

Further reading

References

  1. ^ "BBC News - Chile court confirms Salvador Allende committed suicide". Bbc.co.uk. 12 September 2012. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  2. ^ a b "CIA Activities in Chile". Cia.gov. Archived from the original on 12 June 2007. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  3. ^ "A Country Study: Chile". United States Library of Congress.
  4. ^ "El Fraude: Claudio Fuentes S. Presentó libro sobre plebiscito de la Constitución de 1980".
  5. ^ Nohlen, p. 268
  6. ^ a b Angell, Alan; Pollack, Benny (1990). "The Chilean Elections of 1989". Bulletin of Latin American Research. 9 (1). Society for Latin American Studies: 1–23. doi:10.2307/3338214. JSTOR 3338214.
  7. ^ "Los chilenos, por primera vez desde el golpe de Pinochet, pueden inscribirse para votar". El País. 26 February 1987. Retrieved 28 September 2013.
  8. ^ Daniel Labarca (19 July 2013). "Pugnas internas y denuncias de fraude provocan ruptura en partido de ex DC". La Tercera. Archived from the original on 2 May 2014. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
  9. ^ Edwards, Lee (2001). Mediapolitik: How the Mass Media Have Transformed World Politics. Washington D.C.: CUA Press. pp. 242–243. ISBN 9780813209920. Retrieved 3 July 2014. carlos caszely pinochet no.
  10. ^ Gilles Perez and Gilles Rof. Football Rebels: Caszely and the demise of Allende (Television production). Retrieved 3 July 2014.
  11. ^ "El plebiscito que cambió la historia de Chile | Periódico Diagonal". www.diagonalperiodico.net (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  12. ^ "El multimillonario que apoyó la campaña del No y ayudó a Ricardo Lagos con empresarios". Emol. 27 December 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  13. ^ "La NED, vitrina legal de la CIA". El Ciudadano. 3 August 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  14. ^ "Archivos secretos: el rol de Estados Unidos en el triunfo del NO". El Mostrador. 7 October 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  15. ^ "Plebiscito de Chile de 1988: qué lecciones puede ofrecerle a América Latina el histórico referendo que terminó con el régimen militar de Pinochet". BBC. 5 October 2018. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  16. ^ a b Spooner, Mary Helen (12 May 2011). The General's Slow Retreat: Chile After Pinochet. University of California Press. pp. 18–21. ISBN 9780520266803.
  17. ^ Spooner, Mary Helen (12 May 2011). The General's Slow Retreat: Chile After Pinochet. University of California Press. p. 19. ISBN 9780520266803.
  18. ^ "Chilean Junta Meeting" (PDF). Department of Defense. IIR 6 817 0058 89. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 September 2022.
  19. ^ Fernando Matthei Aubel (10 January 2012). "Letter to the editor". El Mercurio.
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