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In June 1974 Pinochet assumed sole power as president, relegating the rest of the junta to an advisory role.

Pinochet was determined to exterminate leftism in Chile and to reassert free-market policies in the country’s economy. His junta was widely condemned for its harsh suppression of dissent, even though its reversal of the Allende government’s socialist policies resulted in a lower rate of inflation and an economic boom in the period from 1976 to 1979. A modest political liberalization began in 1978 after the regime announced that, in a plebiscite, 75 percent of the electorate had endorsed Pinochet’s rule.

Under a new constitution promulgated in March 1981, Pinochet remained president for an eight-year term until 1989, when a national referendum would determine whether he served an additional eight-year term. During the 1980s, Pinochet’s free-market policies were credited with maintaining a low rate of inflation and an acceptable rate of economic growth despite a severe recession in 1980–83. Pinochet permitted no meaningful political opposition, but he fulfilled his constitutional obligation to hold the plebiscite scheduled, which took place earlier than mandated in October 1988. The result was a “no” vote of 55 percent and a “yes” vote of 43 percent. Although rejected by the electorate, Pinochet remained in office until free elections installed a new president, the Christian Democrat Patricio Aylwin, on March 11, 1990.