# 1949 Chilean senatorial by-election

A senatorial by-election was held in Chile on June 26, 1949 to fill the vacant Senate seat for the 5th provincial grouping (O'Higgins and Colchagua) following the death of the incumbent senator Miguel Cruchaga Tocornal (Conservative Party) on May 3.
It was the first parliamentary election in which women could vote, after the implementarion of Law 9292 on January 8, 1949, which gave women the right to vote in parliamentary and presidential elections, since previously, they could only vote in council elections. The complementary election was also one of the events that produced the breakup of the Conservative Party into 2 factions: one traditionalist and the other social-Christian.

## Candidates and campaign

On May 9, 1949, the Social Christian Coservartive Party (PCSC), one of the factions that split from the Conservative Party after the vote on the Law of Permanent Defense of Democracy, rejected to join with the Traditionalist Conservative Party (PCT). The next die, the PCSC nominated Alberto Echenique Domínguez, who rejected in the following days.
On May 11, the decree calling the election for June 26, 1949 was publicized. On May 14, the PCT nominated Sergio Fernández Larraín, and the next day announced their definitive split from the Conservative Party, when the Christian-socialist board of directors (headed by Horacio Walker Larraín) agreed to erase the members of the traditionalist board and their parliamentarians from its records.
On May 17, the PCSC nominated Francisco Javier Labbé Labbé, while the Liberal Party supported the candidacy of Fernández. On May 30, the National Executive Committee of the Radical Party (PR) agreed to decree freedom of action for its militants in the supplementary election.
The candidacy of Fernández was finalized in the Electoral Service on June 10.

## Results

| Candidate | Candidate | Party | Votes | % |
| | Sergio Fernández Larraín | Traditionalist Conservative Party | 22,709 | 59.90 |
| | Francisco Labbé [es] | Social Christian Conservative Party | 15,202 | 40.10 |
| Total | Total | Total | 37,911 | 100.00 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | Valid votes | 37,911 | 99.58 |
| Invalid votes | Invalid votes | Invalid votes | 54 | 0.14 |
| Blank votes | Blank votes | Blank votes | 107 | 0.28 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 38,072 | 100.00 |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 49,214 | 77.36 |
| Source: La Nación |||||

### Results by commune

| Commune | Fernández | Labbé | Null | Blank |
| O'Higgins Province |||||
| Rancagua | 1603 | 3003 | 0 | 0 |
| Machalí | 771 | 1381 | 23 | 0 |
| Graneros | 1071 | 966 | 0 | 0 |
| Mostazal | 492 | 227 | 0 | 0 |
| Doñihue | 747 | 200 | 0 | 0 |
| Coltauco | 285 | 264 | 0 | 0 |
| Peumo | 799 | 344 | 0 | 5 |
| Las Cabras | 573 | 321 | 0 | 4 |
| San Vicente | 1907 | 996 | 0 | 0 |
| Pichidegua | 712 | 309 | 0 | 0 |
| Rengo | 1158 | 1587 | 3 | 27 |
| Requinoa | 621 | 234 | 4 | 5 |
| Olivar | 266 | 153 | 2 | 0 |
| Malloa | 696 | 524 | 0 | 8 |
| Coinco | 540 | 151 | 0 | 0 |
| Quinta de Tilcoco | 312 | 461 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 12 553 | 11 121 | 35 | 59 |
| Colchagua Province |||||
| Santa Cruz | 1119 | 459 | 0 | 3 |
| Palmilla | 957 | 195 | 0 | 0 |
| Peralillo | 615 | 236 | 0 | 0 |
| Marchigüe | 290 | 227 | 2 | 1 |
| Rosario | 237 | 60 | 0 | 0 |
| Pichilemu | 523 | 216 | 4 | 10 |
| Pumanque | 405 | 62 | 0 | 0 |
| Chépica | 641 | 184 | 0 | 0 |
| Paredones | 220 | 36 | 1 | 0 |
| La Estrella | 382 | 113 | 0 | 0 |
| San Fernando | 2184 | 1341 | 12 | 34 |
| Chimbarongo | 1050 | 575 | 0 | 0 |
| Nancagua | 871 | 299 | 0 | 0 |
| Placilla | 662 | 78 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 10 156 | 4081 | 19 | 48 |
| Source: La Nación. |||||

## Reactions

The minister of the Interior, Immanuel Holger, proclaimed that the election occurred peacefully. In the provincial grouping, 49,241 men and women were registered to vote. The winning candidate, Sergio Fernández Larraín, claimed that with the result, "communism was defeated."
Fernández was incorporated into the Senate on August 2, after the Election Certification Court officially named him senator elect.