With this election and with Allende, there are two separate-but-related questions:

1. Can a leftist party gain state power through elections?
2. Can a leftist party that gained power through elections hold that power against reactionary attacks?

Allende succeeding at #1 but failing at #2 does not mean every party that succeeds at #1 must fail at #2. It's a question worth asking, but we have basically one data point.