The Civic Coalition is a political coalition

Coalition

A coalition is a pact or treaty among individuals or groups, during which they cooperate in joint action, each in their own self-interest, joining forces together for a common cause. This alliance may be temporary or a matter of convenience. A coalition thus differs from a more formal covenant...

 in Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

. It was founded by Elisa Carrió

Elisa Carrió

Elisa María Avelina Carrió is an Argentine politician, founder of the party initially known as Alternative for a Republic of Equals , now Civic Coalition ARI ....

, as an association supported by the ARI party (Support for an Egalitarian Republic

Support for an Egalitarian Republic

Civic Coalition ARI is a social liberal Argentine political party, founded in 2001 by Elisa Carrió. It is a member of the Civic Coalition with centrist and centre-left parties.- Creation and political representation :...

), as well as a number of other political groups and individual political leaders, notably Union for All (UPT) of Patricia Bullrich

Patricia Bullrich

Patricia Bullrich is an Argentine politician. She leads the Union for All , which forms part of the Civic Coalition, and represents the City of Buenos Aires in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies....

 and GEN - Generation for a National Encounter of Margarita Stolbizer

Margarita Stolbizer

-Life and times:Margarita Stolbizer was born in the western Buenos Aires suburb of Morón, in 1955. She enrolled at the Universidad de Morón and graduated in 1978, after which she taught at her alma mater's law school for four years. An avid volleyball player, she created her city's first women's...

.

Carrió ran for presidency on the 2007 election

Argentine general election, 2007

Argentina held national presidential and legislative elections on October 28, 2007, and elections for provincial governors took place on staggered dates throughout the year. For the national elections, each of the 23 provinces and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires are considered electoral districts...

 representing the Civic Coalition, along with the Socialist Party

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....

 Senator

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...

 for 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...

, Rubén Giustiniani

Rubén Giustiniani

Rubén Héctor Giustiniani is an Argentine senator from Santa Fe province. An engineer by occupation, he is also president of the Socialist Party ....

. The coalition lost the election, although it did well in the largest cities of Argentina, getting support especially from the urban middle and upper classes.

Leading figures of the Coalition, as well as Carrió, Bullrich and Stolbizer, include Alfonso Prat Gay

Alfonso Prat Gay

Alfonso Prat Gay is an Argentine economist and politician. He was President of the Central Bank of Argentina from December 2002 to September 2004, and was elected Congressman for the Civic Coalition in the 2009 elections.-Career:...

, former head of the Central Bank, and Senators María Eugenia Estenssoro

María Eugenia Estenssoro

María Eugenia Estenssoro is a Bolivian-born Argentine politician, journalist and activist for women's rights. She represents the city of Buenos Aires in the Argentine Senate....

 and Samuel Cabanchik

Samuel Cabanchik

Samuel Manuel Cabanchik is an Argentine philosopher, academic and politician. He was elected to the Argentine Senate in 2007, representing the City of Buenos Aires on the Civic Coalition ticket...

. The embrace by Carrió of these centrist figures proved controversial among more left-wing members of ARI and some national legislators declined to join the new expanded Civic Coalition grouping in Congress following the 2007 elections and instead formed a separate block called the Autonomous ARI. In May 2008, the block, led by Eduardo Macaluse

Eduardo Macaluse

Eduardo Gabriel Macaluse is an Argentine politician and teacher. He is a member of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies and leads the Solidarity and Equality party , a grouping of dissidents from the Support for an Egalitarian Republic party , which is part of the political party 'Proyecto Sur'.A...

, announced that they were forming a new party, Solidarity and Equality

Solidarity and Equality

Solidarity and Equality is a centre-left Argentine political party, founded in 2008 as a splinter from ARI....

 (Solidaridad e Igualdad - SI). Others who left ARI were Carlos Raimundi, Leonardo Gorbacz, Delia Bisutti

Delia Bisutti

Delia Beatriz Bisutti is an Argentine centre-left politician, currently a member of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies representing Buenos Aires....

, Nelida Belous, Verónica Venas, Emilio García Méndez, Lidia Naim and María América González. Senator María Rosa Díaz

María Rosa Díaz

María Rosa Díaz de Vazquez is an Argentine politician, elected for ARI. She sits in the Argentine Senate representing Tierra del Fuego Province....

 also appeared at the launch of SI. Several of the legislators who created the new party had won their seats in the 2007 election as part of the Civic Coalition, which they later opposed.

The ARI deputies from Tierra del Fuego sit with the SI members in a separate block in the Chamber of Deputies. Subsequently Senators María Rosa Díaz

María Rosa Díaz

María Rosa Díaz de Vazquez is an Argentine politician, elected for ARI. She sits in the Argentine Senate representing Tierra del Fuego Province....

 and José Carlos Martínez

José Carlos Martínez

José Carlos Martínez was an Argentine politician, formerly of ARI. He sat in the Argentine Senate representing Tierra del Fuego Province....

 left ARI altogether in March 2009.

Since 2009, the coalition refounded itself as a party, called Civic Coalition ARI (CC-ARI), and works with the 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...

, Federal Consensus (ConFe, the vehicle of Vice-President Julio Cobos

Julio Cobos

Julio César Cleto Cobos is an Argentine politician, currently serving as the Vice President of Argentina alongside President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. He started his political career as member of the Radical Civic Union , becoming Governor of Mendoza in 2003...

) and the Socialist Party

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....

, in the alliance Civic and Social Agreement

Civic and Social Agreement

The Social and Civic Agreement is an active congressional alliance in Argentina, integrated by the Radical Civic Union and the Socialist Party , which acted as an umbrella national electoral alliance at the last 2009 Argentine legislative elections...

(ACyS), although the actual situation of it varies in each district.

The Civic Coalition left the Civic and Social Agreement on 12 August 2010.