Word: tomic
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...precedent-shattering elections. In a three-way race for the presidency, the Marxist candidate, Dr. Salvador Allende, had received the highest vote, polling 36% v. 35% for his rightist opponent, former President Jorge Alessandri, and 28% for the candidate of President Eduardo Frei's Christian Democratic Party, Radomiro Tomic. Since no candidate won a popular majority, the Chilean Congress must decide between Allende and Alessandri on Oct. 24. In the meantime, just about everyone in Chile was acting as if Allende had already become the first Marxist head of state ever to be elected freely in the Western Hemisphere...
Communist Role. This year, pitted against the aging Alessandri and the arrogant, lackluster Tomic, Allende was more successful. He played hard on such ancient grievances as poverty, foreign "exploitation" and the crippling inflation rate, and won a wide range of supporters, including a few liberal clergymen. Declared the Rev. Hernan Larrain: "There is no incompatibility between being Catholic and voting for a Marxist." Even so, Allende was opposed by more than 60% of the electorate. In the view of many observers, he owes his victory to the fact that President Frei was not permitted by the constitution to succeed himself...
...efforts were not successful. On election night last week, the Marxist Allende pulled into an early lead, with the conservative Alessandri running a close second and the moderate leftist Tomic an inauspicious third. The race between Allende and Alessandri was extremely close, but it appeared that Allende had emerged with a narrow popular victory. In any case, since no candidate won an absolute majority, the contest will not be settled until late next month, when the Chilean Congress will select one of the two top vote-getters-Allende or Alessandri-as the new President...
Coalition Speculation. On the center left is Radomiro Tomic, the former ambassador to the U.S., who is the candidate of Frei's Christian Democratic Party. Tomic, the 56-year-old father of nine, has criticized the Frei government's failure to reduce inflation and to move from "Chileanization" (51% ownership) to full nationalization of the copper industry...
Since none of the candidates is likely to win a majority in the Sept. 4 election, the contest will probably be settled next month by the Chilean Congress. Any outcome is possible. But the reluctance of Allende and Tomic to create ill feeling by criticizing each other during the campaign could be a sign that they are considering the possibility of a leftist coalition if Alessandri should poll the most votes...