Argentine general election, 1995 - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Argentine general election of 1995 was held on 14 May. Voters chose both the President and their legislators and with a turnout of 82.1%, it produced the following results:

President

Carlos Ruckauf

Carlos Federico Ruckauf is a Peronist politician in Argentina, member of the Justicialist Party.-Biography:Carlos Federico Ruckauf was born in the western Buenos Aires suburb of Ramos Mejía. His parents separated when he was seven, and he lived in Mar del Plata, Salta, and Buenos Aires during the...

|align=left|Justicialist Party

Justicialist Party

The Justicialist Party , or PJ, is a Peronist political party in Argentina, and the largest component of the Peronist movement.The party was led by Néstor Kirchner, President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, until his death on October 27, 2010. The current Argentine president, Cristina Fernández de...

|rowspan=3 align="right" |8,687,319
|align="right" |44.94
|-
|align=left|Union of the Democratic Centre

Union of the Democratic Centre (Argentina)

The Union of the Democratic Centre is a conservative political party in Argentina. It was founded in 1982 by Álvaro Alsogaray who stood for the Party in the 1983 and 1989 presidential elections....

José Octavio Bordón

José Octavio Bordón is an Argentine politician and diplomat.-Life and times:Born in Rosario in 1945, Bordón graduated in sociology from the Universidad del Salvador in Buenos Aires in 1970. He was Professor of Political Sociology at Universidad Nacional de Cuyo from 1972 to 1976, and again from...

- Carlos Álvarez

Carlos Álvarez (vice-president)

Carlos Alberto "Chacho" Álvarez is an Argentine politician; he was Vice-President of Argentina during part of President Fernando de la Rúa's mandate, and currently heads the Aladi Secretariat....

|align=left|Front for a Country in Solidarity

Front for a Country in Solidarity

The Front for a Country in Solidarity was a political party in Argentina. It was formed in 1994 out of the Great Front , which had been founded mainly by progressive members of the Peronist Justicialist Party who denounced the policies and the alleged corruption of the Carlos Menem administration;...

|align="right" |5,095,929
|align="right" |29.30
|-
|align=left|Horacio Massaccesi

Horacio Massaccesi

Horacio Massaccesi is an Argentine politician and former Governor of Río Negro Province.-Early career:Massaccesi was born in 1948 to an Italian Argentine family in Villa Regina, then a largely agricultural town on the banks of the Río Negro in Argentina's region of Patagonia...

- José María Hernández
|align=left|Radical Civic Union

Radical Civic Union

The Radical Civic Union is a political party in Argentina. The party's positions on issues range from liberal to social democratic. The UCR is a member of the Socialist International. Founded in 1891 by radical liberals, it is the oldest political party active in Argentina...

|align="right" |2,956,087
|align="right" |16.99
|-
|align=left|Aldo Rico

Aldo Rico

Aldo Rico is an Argentine military man and politician, famous for his role in the episodes of 1987 and 1988 where sectors of the Armed Forces, known as carapintadas , revolted to protest the policies of...

Republican Force Tucumán

The Republican Force Tucumán is a provincial conservative political party in Tucumán Province, Argentina.The party was set up by Antonio Domingo Bussi, who was Tucumán's Governor during the eary years of the 1976-83 dictatorship, and was found guilty of murder, kidnapping, and corruption...

|align="right" |79,069
|align="right" |0.46
|-
|align=left|Fernando Solanas

Fernando Solanas

Fernando Ezequiel 'Pino' Solanas is an Argentine film director, screenwriter and politician....

Jorge Altamira

Jorge Altamira , is an Argentine activist and politician leading the Workers' Party in Argentina.He was born José Saúl Wermus in Buenos Aires, in 1942. Son of a printing worker active in the Graphist Union, Altamira began participating in the labor movement at an early age, and took part in a...

- Graciela Molle
|align=left|Workers' Party

Workers' Party (Argentina)

The Workers' Party is an Argentine Trotskyist political party. It is the largest national section of the Co-ordinating Committee for the Refoundation of the Fourth International....

Humanist Party (Argentina)

The Humanist Party is a progressive political party in Argentina and is a member of the Humanist International. Its "five basic points" are :# The human being as a value and central focus# Nonviolence as method of action...

Movement for Socialism

There are several groups named Movement for Socialism:*Movement for Socialism *Movement for Socialism *Movement for Socialism *Movement for Socialism *Movement for Socialism *Movement for Socialism...

Juan Carlos Onganía

Juan Carlos Onganía Carballo was de facto president of Argentina from 29 June 1966 to 8 June 1970. He rose to power as military dictator after toppling, in a coup d’état self-named Revolución Argentina , the democratically elected president Arturo Illia .-Economic and social...

- Ricardo Paz
|align=left|Patriotic Coincidence Front
|align="right" |3,147
|align="right" |0.02
|-
|align=left colspan=2 style="background:#ffdead;"|Total positive votes
|align=right style="background:#ffdead;"|17,394,851
|align=right style="background:#ffdead;"|95.56
|-
|align=left colspan=2|Total blank and invalid votes
|align=right|808,611
|align=right|4.44
|-
|align=left colspan=2 style="background:#ffdead;"|Total votes
|align=right style="background:#ffdead;"|18,203,451
|style="background:#ffdead;"|
|-
|align=left colspan=4|Source: Ministerio del Interior
|}

Argentine Congress

Party/Electoral Alliance	Lower House Argentine Chamber of Deputies The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Argentine National Congress. This Chamber holds exclusive rights to create taxes, to draft troops, and to accuse the President, the ministers and the members of the Supreme Court before the Senate.... Seats	Vote Percentage	Senate Argentine Senate The Argentine Senate is the upper house of the Argentine National Congress. It has 72 senators: three for each province and three for the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires...
Justicialist Party Justicialist Party The Justicialist Party , or PJ, is a Peronist political party in Argentina, and the largest component of the Peronist movement.The party was led by Néstor Kirchner, President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, until his death on October 27, 2010. The current Argentine president, Cristina Fernández de...	131	43.0%	39
Radical Civic Union Radical Civic Union The Radical Civic Union is a political party in Argentina. The party's positions on issues range from liberal to social democratic. The UCR is a member of the Socialist International. Founded in 1891 by radical liberals, it is the oldest political party active in Argentina...	68	21.7%	20
FREPASO	25	20.7%	3
UCeDé Union of the Democratic Centre (Argentina) The Union of the Democratic Centre is a conservative political party in Argentina. It was founded in 1982 by Álvaro Alsogaray who stood for the Party in the 1983 and 1989 presidential elections....	4	3.2%
MODIN	3	1.7%
Autonomist Autonomist Party of Corrientes The Autonomist Party of Corrientes is a provincial political party in Argentina, Corrientes Province.... -Liberal Liberal Party of Corrientes The Liberal Party of Corrientes is a liberal conservative provincial political party in Corrientes Province, Argentina. Founded in 1856, it is the oldest political party in Argentina and in Latin America, the second oldest in the Americas.... Pact (Corrientes Province Corrientes Province Corrientes is a province in northeast Argentina, in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by : Paraguay, the province of Misiones, Brazil, Uruguay, and the provinces of Entre Rios, Santa Fe and Chaco.-History:... )	4	0.9%	1
Salta Salta Province Salta is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the east clockwise Formosa, Chaco, Santiago del Estero, Tucumán and Catamarca. It also surrounds Jujuy... Renewal Party	3	0.8%	1
Other regional parties	14	4.5%	8
Others	5	3.5%
Invalid votes		6.9%
Total seats	257		72

Background

The Justicialist Party

Justicialist Party

had been founded in 1945 by Juan Perón

Juan Perón

Juan Domingo Perón was an Argentine military officer, and politician. Perón was three times elected as President of Argentina though he only managed to serve one full term, after serving in several government positions, including the Secretary of Labor and the Vice Presidency...

, largely on the promise of greater self-reliance, increased state ownership in the economy and a shift in national policy to benefit "the other half" of Argentine society. Taking office on Perón's ticket in 1989 amid the worst crisis in a hundred years, President Carlos Menem

Carlos Menem

Carlos Saúl Menem is an Argentine politician who was President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. He is currently an Argentine National Senator for La Rioja Province.-Early life:...

had begun the systematic sell-off of Argentina's array of State enterprises, which had produced nearly half the nation's goods and services. Following 18 months of very mixed results, in February 1991 Menem reached out to his Foreign Minister

Foreign relations of Argentina

This article deals with the diplomatic affairs, foreign policy and international relations of Argentina.At the political level, these matters are officially handled by the Ministry of Foreign Relations, also known as the Cancillería, which answers to the President...

, Domingo Cavallo

Domingo Cavallo

Domingo Felipe "Mingo" Cavallo is an Argentine economist and politician. He has a long history of public service and is known for implementing the Convertibilidad plan, which fixed the dollar-peso exchange rate at 1:1 between 1991 and 2001, which brought the Argentine inflation rate down from over...

, whose experience as an economist included a brief but largely positive stint as the nation's Central Bank president in 1982. His introduction of a fixed exchange rate via his Convertibility Plan

Argentine Currency Board

The Argentine Currency Board pegged the Argentine peso to the U.S. dollar between 1991 and 2002 in an attempt to eliminate hyperinflation and stimulate economic growth. While it initially met with considerable success, the board's actions ultimately failed. In contrast of what most people think,...

led to sharp drops in interest rates and inflation, though the sudden recovery and Cavallo's fixed exchange rate (converted to 1 peso per dollar in 1992) led to a fivefold jump in imports (far outpacing the flush growth in demand). A wave of layoffs after 1992 created a tense labor climate often worsened by the flamboyant Menem, who also diluted basic labor laws, leading to less overtime pay and increasing unemployment and underemployment

Underemployment

Underemployment refers to an employment situation that is insufficient in some important way for the worker, relative to a standard. Examples include holding a part-time job despite desiring full-time work, and overqualification, where the employee has education, experience, or skills beyond the...

. Private-sector lay-offs, dismissed as a natural consequence of recovering productivity (which had not risen in 20 years), added to mounting state enterprise and government layoffs, leading to a rise in unemployment from 7% in 1992 to 12 % by 1994 (after GDP had leapt by a third in just four years). In this policy irony lay the Justicialists' greatest weakness ahead of the 1995 election.

The election itself created yet another unexpected turn. Barred from seeking reelection by the 1853 Argentine Constitution, President Menem reached out to his predecessor and head of the embattled centrist Radical Civic Union

Radical Civic Union

(UCR), Raúl Alfonsín

Raúl Alfonsín

Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín was an Argentine lawyer, politician and statesman, who served as the President of Argentina from December 10, 1983, to July 8, 1989. Alfonsín was the first democratically-elected president of Argentina following the military government known as the National Reorganization...

. Meeting at the presidencial residence in tony northside Olivos, Buenos Aires

Olivos, Buenos Aires

Olivos is an Argentine city in Vicente López Partido in the Province of Buenos Aires and a suburb within the Greater Buenos Aires metro area....

in November 1993 to negotiate an extensive amendment of the Constitution, the two leaders resolved to be of mutual benefit: Alfonsín obtained the direct election of the mayor of (UCR-leaning) Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

(depriving the presidency of a right held since 1880 to appoint its mayor) and an expansion in the Argentine Senate

Argentine Senate

The Argentine Senate is the upper house of the Argentine National Congress. It has 72 senators: three for each province and three for the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires...

from 48 to 72 members (3 per province), which would assure the runner-up (presumably the UCR) the third seat; Menem, in return, secured his right to run for reelection.

Both men faced dissension in their parties' ranks after the 1994 reform of the Argentine Constitution

1994 reform of the Argentine Constitution

The 1994 amendment to the Constitution of Argentina was approved on 22 August by a Constitutional Assembly that met in the twin cities of Santa Fe and Paraná...

was unveiled in August. Alfonsín's candidate in the UCR primaries, Río Negro Province

Río Negro Province

Río Negro is a province of Argentina, located at the northern edge of Patagonia. Neighboring provinces are from the south clockwise Chubut, Neuquén, Mendoza, La Pampa and Buenos Aires. To the east lies the Atlantic Ocean.Its capital is Viedma...

Governor Horacio Massaccesi

Horacio Massaccesi

, defeated Federico Storani and Rodolfo Terragno

Rodolfo Terragno

Rodolfo Terragno is an Argentine politician and lawyer, former Senator and journalist.-Life and times:Terragno was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1943 and obtained a Law Degree from the University of Buenos Aires in 1967, founding the law firm of Terragno & Associates. He married Sonia...

for the nomination over their opposition to the Olivos Pact. Menem, in turn, had lost a number of Congressmen from his party after Carlos Álvarez

Carlos Álvarez (vice-president)

Carlos Alberto "Chacho" Álvarez is an Argentine politician; he was Vice-President of Argentina during part of President Fernando de la Rúa's mandate, and currently heads the Aladi Secretariat....

led a center-left splinter group in revolt over Menem's privatizations and unchecked corruption. His Frente Grande had become influential after merging with fellow ex-Peronist José Octavio Bordón

José Octavio Bordón

in 1994, ahead of the May 14, 1995 election date. Bordón, a popular Mendoza Province

Mendoza Province

The Province of Mendoza is a province of Argentina, located in the western central part of the country in the Cuyo region. It borders to the north with San Juan, the south with La Pampa and Neuquén, the east with San Luis, and to the west with the republic of Chile; the international limit is...

Senator was a centrist who also lent the leftist Álvarez, whose strength was in Buenos Aires, appeal in Argentina's hinterland (which had benefited least from the 1991-94 boom). They combined forces to create the FREPASO, adding Argentina's struggling Socialists

Socialist Party (Argentina)

The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in Argentina. The history of socialism in Argentina began in the 1890s, when a group of people, notably Juan B. Justo, expressed the need for a greater social focus....

.

The new constitutional rules governing elections provided opportunities for parties stuck in 2^nd or 3^rd place in the polls, as the Frepaso and UCR were, respectvely. Bypassing the previous electoral college

Electoral college

An electoral college is a set of electors who are selected to elect a candidate to a particular office. Often these represent different organizations or entities, with each organization or entity represented by a particular number of electors or with votes weighted in a particular way...

system, a victory by direct proportional voting could be achieved by either through a run-off election (in case no candidate obtained a clear majority). The Justicialists enjoyed a clear advantage, given polls and their control of both chambers of Congress; but cracks began to develop as 1994 drew to a close. Local prosperity, the guarantor of Menem's presumptive victory, was shaken by the Mexican peso crisis in December. Dependent on foreign investment to maintain its central bank reserves

Foreign exchange reserves

Foreign-exchange reserves in a strict sense are 'only' the foreign currency deposits and bonds held by central banks and monetary authorities. However, the term in popular usage commonly includes foreign exchange and gold, Special Drawing Rights and International Monetary Fund reserve positions...

(which fell by US$6 billion in days), its sudden scarcity led to a wave of capital flight

Capital flight

Capital flight, in economics, occurs when assets and/or money rapidly flow out of a country, due to an economic event and that disturbs investors and causes them to lower their valuation of the assets in that country, or otherwise to lose confidence in its economic...

out of Buenos Aires' growing banks and to a unforeseen recession. Concurrent revelations of gross corruption surrounding the purchase of IBM

IBM

International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...

computers for the antiquated National Bank of Argentina

Banco de la Nación Argentina

Banco de la Nación Argentina is a state-owned bank in Argentina, and the largest in the country's banking sector.-Overview:The bank was founded on October 18, 1891, by President Carlos Pellegrini by way of stabilizing the nation's finances following the Panic of 1890; its first director was...

(the nation's largest), further added to the opposition's hopes that a runoff might still be needed in May.

Between them, the Frepaso enjoyed the advantage. Sporting charismatic leadership, they hoped to displace the UCR (Argentina's oldest existing party) from its role as the Peronists' chief opposition. The UCR had been badly tarnished by President Raúl Alfonsín

Raúl Alfonsín

's chaotic 1983-89 term, though its candidate, Río Negro Province

Río Negro Province

Governor Horacio Massaccesi

Horacio Massaccesi

, had earned international renown in 1991 for storming a local National Bank branch in search of needed funds being retained by the federal government for what seemd to be political reasons. The UCR, moreover, still had its name recognition and organized, if frayed political machinery, controlled by Alfonsín and popular Córdoba Province

Córdoba Province (Argentina)

Córdoba is a province of Argentina, located in the center of the country. Neighboring provinces are : Santiago del Estero, Santa Fe, Buenos Aires, La Pampa, San Luis, La Rioja and Catamarca...

Governor Eduardo Angeloz

Eduardo Angeloz

Eduardo César Angeloz is an Argentine politician. He was a presidential candidate and Governor of Córdoba from December 11, 1983 to December 11, 1995....

. As election day drew near, analysts debated not only the possibility of a runoff, but also which of the two opposition parties would face Menem in such a case.

Ultimately, corruption and the sudden recession were not enough to keep the unflappable Menem from a first-round victory. The big tent

Big tent

In politics, a big tent party or catch-all party is a political party seeking to attract people with diverse viewpoints. The party does not require adherence to some ideology as a criterion for membership...

Justicialist Party, allied in many districts to local parties, formed an electoral front which obtained almost half of the total vote. The Frepaso garnered nearly 30%, and though their hopes for a runoff were stymied, this was considered a very good result for a party assembled only the previous year. Frepaso, however, came ahead in the presidential race only in two districts: Santa Fe Province

Santa Fe Province

The Invincible Province of Santa Fe, in Spanish Provincia Invencible de Santa Fe , is a province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco , Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Santiago del Estero...

and the city of Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

. The UCR

UCR

UCR may refer to:* University of California, Riverside* Unified Cornish Revised, a variety of the Cornish language* Uniform Crime Reports* Under color removal* University of Costa Rica* Unión Cívica Radical, an Argentine political party...

, a major political force in Argentina since the beginning of the 20th century, came in third with only 17% of the vote.

All provinces except Corrientes

Corrientes Province

Corrientes is a province in northeast Argentina, in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by : Paraguay, the province of Misiones, Brazil, Uruguay, and the provinces of Entre Rios, Santa Fe and Chaco.-History:...

also elected governors during 1995; several but not all provinces conducted their elections on the same date as the national one. A number of municipalities elected legislative officials (concejales) and in some cases also a mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

. The Justicialists obtained 14 of the 23 governorships and the UCR, 5. Among Argentina's larger cities, only Bahía Blanca

Bahía Blanca

Bahía Blanca is a city located in the south-west of the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, by the Atlantic Ocean, and seat of government of Bahía Blanca Partido. It has a population of 274,509 inhabitants according to the...

and Mar del Plata

Mar del Plata

Mar del Plata is an Argentine city located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, south of Buenos Aires. Mar del Plata is the second largest city of Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" had apparently the sense of "sea of the Río de la Plata region" or "adjoining sea to the Río de la Plata"...

kept a UCR mayor (though Buenos Aires would elect one in 1996).

The legislative elections, where half the seats in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies

Argentine Chamber of Deputies

The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Argentine National Congress. This Chamber holds exclusive rights to create taxes, to draft troops, and to accuse the President, the ministers and the members of the Supreme Court before the Senate....

were contested, saw the Justicialists obtain a large majority (more votes that its two closest opponents combined), losing in only 5 districts out of 24; of the 130 seats in play, the secured 68, the UCR, 28 seats, and Frepaso obtained 20 seats. The UCR lost 15 and, on a district basis, they did not get the majority vote in any district. The Frepaso won in the city of Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

and picked up 12 seats. Local parties won in two districts (Salta Province

Salta Province

Salta is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the east clockwise Formosa, Chaco, Santiago del Estero, Tucumán and Catamarca. It also surrounds Jujuy...

and Neuquén Province

Neuquén Province

Neuquén is a province of Argentina, located in the west of the country, at the northern end of Patagonia. It borders Mendoza Province to the north, Rio Negro Province to the southeast, and Chile to the west...

). The newly expanded Argentine Senate

Argentine Senate

The Argentine Senate is the upper house of the Argentine National Congress. It has 72 senators: three for each province and three for the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires...

, as Menem and Alfonsín had intended, benefited both parties.

Candidates For President

Justicialist Party
Justicialist Party
The Justicialist Party , or PJ, is a Peronist political party in Argentina, and the largest component of the Peronist movement.The party was led by Néstor Kirchner, President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, until his death on October 27, 2010. The current Argentine president, Cristina Fernández de...

(pragmatic): President Carlos Menem
Carlos Menem
Carlos Saúl Menem is an Argentine politician who was President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. He is currently an Argentine National Senator for La Rioja Province.-Early life:...

of La Rioja Province
La Rioja Province (Argentina)
La Rioja is a one of the provinces of Argentina and is located in the west of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Catamarca, Córdoba, San Luis and San Juan.-History:...
FrePaSo
Front for a Country in Solidarity
The Front for a Country in Solidarity was a political party in Argentina. It was formed in 1994 out of the Great Front , which had been founded mainly by progressive members of the Peronist Justicialist Party who denounced the policies and the alleged corruption of the Carlos Menem administration;...

(center-left): Former Governor José Octavio Bordón
José Octavio Bordón
José Octavio Bordón is an Argentine politician and diplomat.-Life and times:Born in Rosario in 1945, Bordón graduated in sociology from the Universidad del Salvador in Buenos Aires in 1970. He was Professor of Political Sociology at Universidad Nacional de Cuyo from 1972 to 1976, and again from...

of Mendoza Province
Mendoza Province
The Province of Mendoza is a province of Argentina, located in the western central part of the country in the Cuyo region. It borders to the north with San Juan, the south with La Pampa and Neuquén, the east with San Luis, and to the west with the republic of Chile; the international limit is...
Radical Civic Union
Radical Civic Union
The Radical Civic Union is a political party in Argentina. The party's positions on issues range from liberal to social democratic. The UCR is a member of the Socialist International. Founded in 1891 by radical liberals, it is the oldest political party active in Argentina...

(centrist): Governor Horacio Massaccesi
Horacio Massaccesi
Horacio Massaccesi is an Argentine politician and former Governor of Río Negro Province.-Early career:Massaccesi was born in 1948 to an Italian Argentine family in Villa Regina, then a largely agricultural town on the banks of the Río Negro in Argentina's region of Patagonia...

of Río Negro Province
Río Negro Province
Río Negro is a province of Argentina, located at the northern edge of Patagonia. Neighboring provinces are from the south clockwise Chubut, Neuquén, Mendoza, La Pampa and Buenos Aires. To the east lies the Atlantic Ocean.Its capital is Viedma...

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