Chilean presidential election, 1942

Chile

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A presidential election was held in Chile on February 2, 1942. Juan Antonio Ríos was a member of the conservative wing of the Radical Party and defeated General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, portraying himself as a conservative anti-fascist candidate. He obtained 55,95% of the votes and took office on April 2, 1942.

Background

In 1941, due to his rapidly escalating illness, President Pedro Aguirre Cerda appointed his minister of the Interior, Jerónimo Méndez as vice-president and died soon after, on November 25, 1941. President Aguirre Cerda's two natural successors were Juan Antonio Ríos and Gabriel González Videla, both members of his Radical Party, while the right-wings' coalition was united by a common candidate, General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, who had the support of Chile's Conservative party, Liberal Party, National Socialist party, Popular Socialist Vanguard and the majority of the independents.

Ríos started to campaign early but two days before the internal primaries of his party, Gabriel González Videla (who was the ambassador to Brazil) returned to Chile to dispute him the nomination. The results were too close to call, so a tribunal of honor (electoral commission) was constituted, and Juan Antonio Ríos was finally proclaimed the candidate of a left-wings' coalition of parties. This Democratic Alliance (Spanish: Alianza Democratica) was formed by the Radical Party, the Socialist Party, the Communist Party, the Democratic Party and the Workers' Socialist Party.

Results

Candidate	Party/Coalition	Votes	%
Juan Antonio Ríos Morales	Democratic Alliance	260,034	55.95
Carlos Ibáñez del Campo	Liberal/Conservative	204,635	44.03
disperse		124	0.03
blanks/nulls		1,714
Total valid votes		464,793	100.00

Source: Presidential Election 1942 (Spanish)