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Despite Allende's clear if narrow claim to victory, the two losing parties seemed at one point to be on the verge of snatching the presidency away from him. Alessandri, the right-wing runner-up, said that if he were elected President by the Congress, he would resign immediately, paving the way for new elections. The popular President Frei, legally barred from succeeding himself, would then be permitted to run. Although he would probably have won an absolute majority against any and all opponents, Frei did not support the plan publicly, possibly because he believed that it was merely a way of thwarting the constitutional process.
Then the Christian Democrats tried another tactic. In return for the united support of all 75 C.D.P. Congressmen in next week's balloting, they asked Allende, would he guarantee the survival of Chile's opposition political parties, free press, labor-union autonomy, and right of assembly? And would he relinquish his right to name the chiefs of the armed services and turn that prerogative over to the armed forces themselves, subject to congressional approval? It was a pathetic appeal. TIME Correspondent David Lee noted: "The governing party was beseeching the apparent President-elect for guarantees of the very freedoms that had allowed his victory to take place."
Allende replied briskly that such guarantees were unnecessary; his own "democratic attitude," he said, guaranteed "the future behavior of my government." As for relinquishing his right to appoint the chiefs of the armed services, he refused to consider the matter: "I am an intransigent defender of the prerogatives of the chief of state." This time the Christian Democrats were ready to fight, and there were reports that President Frei's forces were trying to gain support for an alliance with Alessandri's National Party.
A Beautiful Experiment
Facing such a specific threat to their victory, the leaders of Allende's Popular Unity coalition conferred for 16 hours and agreed to meet with the Christian Democrats to consider a constitutional amendment incorporating all the C.D.P. demands except one rescinding the President's right to make military appointments. It was a thin concession on Allende's part, but it was enough to swing the C.D.P. In a session at week's end, the party agreed to support Allende unanimously. Barring an unlikely military coup or even more unlikely outside intervention, he will be inaugurated Chile's next President on Nov. 4.
At that time, the vital question will become what sort of Marxist President Allende will choose to be. The frightening fact is that Chileans have no idea. "It could be a beautiful experiment in democracy," says a Santiago conservative, "or it could be a concentration camp."