1930 Argentine legislative election

1930 Argentine legislative election

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81 of the 158 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
Turnout	74.91%
Party Vote % Seats +/– Radical Civic Union 43.22 49 +11 Confederation of the Right  [ es ] 20.59 13 −6 Antipersonalist Radicalism 11.42 3 −12 Socialist Party 8.58 1 −3 Independent Socialist Party 7.68 10 +10 Democratic Progressive Party 4.02 3 +3 Lencinist Radical Civic Union  [ es ] 1.34 1 +1 Blockist Radical Civic Union  [ es ] 0.20 1 −1 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Results by province

Legislative elections were held in Argentina on 2 March 1930 to elect members of the Chamber of Deputies. Voter turnout was 75%.

Background

President Yrigoyen visits a wounded policeman following one of numerous clashes during his last year in office.

The Wall Street crash of 1929, as in much of the rest of the world, abruptly clouded Argentina's political, as well as economic, landscape. Hipólito Yrigoyen, who was overwhelmingly returned to the Presidency in 1928, advanced a progressive agenda during his first year in office, establishing a Ministry of Health, securing trade pacts with the British Empire that promoted import substitution industrialization, and increasing investments in education, the sciences, and the state oil concern, YPF. ^[1]

This latter policy made his administration a target of Standard Oil, which had growing interests in the country's energy sector. ^[2] Yrigoyen's second term inherited considerable domestic opposition, as well, from his 1916—22 administration, when policy differences with the conservative wing of the UCR provoked his removal of 18 governors by decree. ^[3] This opposition had never achieved unity, however, and were no match for Yrigoyen's popularity. ^[3]

The collapse that followed the 1929 crash proved to be real challenge for Yrigoyen. Scorned by much of the media for his age and alleged senility, the president reacted quickly to the crisis. He loosened credit, moved to delay farm evictions, and intervened against massive capital flight by rescinding the gold standard in Argentina, thereby stymying the movement of gold overseas (around 200 million dollars' worth had been removed from local banks after the crash via this mechanism). ^[4] These measures helped maintain the populist leader's base of support, as did possibly the 24 December 1929, attempt on his life, ^[5] and only added to its opposition by the financial sector. ^[4]

The results of the legislative elections, held on 2 March 1930, reflected some erosion in Yrigoyen's base, as the UCR lost 19% off its 1928 landslide vote totals. Turnout remained high, however, and the UCR added six seats to their already commanding majority in the Lower House. Winning in 10 of 14 districts renewing seats, the UCR lost in the City of Buenos Aires, where a schism in the Socialist Party resulted in victory for the more conservative group, the Independent Socialists. Right-wing opposition also won in Córdoba Province, where Julio Roca's Democratic Party made gains. ^[6]

Having lost at the ballot box, Yrigoyen's opponents in both domestic politics and foreign corporate boardrooms redoubled their efforts, marshaling news editorials, provincial legislatures and, ultimately, elements in the Argentine military against the aging leader. An August 9 resolution in the Lower House, signed by 44 conservatives, called for Yrigoyen's resignation, and following numerous clashes and acts of sabotage, Generals José Félix Uriburu and Agustín Justo took power in a September 6 coup d'état. ^{[4] [7]}

Results

Party or alliance				Votes	%	Seats
						Won	Total
	Radical Civic Union			622,961	43.22	49	100
	Confederation of the Right  [ es ]		Conservative Party	154,246	10.70	6	13
			Democratic Party of Córdoba  [ es ]	78,050	5.41	4	8
			Liberal Party of Corrientes	19,465	1.35	1	1
			Autonomist Party of Corrientes	17,135	1.19	0	2
			Liberal Party of Tucumán	14,292	0.99	1	2
			Provincial Union	7,231	0.50	1	1
			Liberal Party of Mendoza	6,435	0.45	0	0
		Total		296,854	20.59	13	27
	Antipersonalist Radicalism		Unified Radical Civic Union  [ es ]	52,593	3.65	1	5
			Antipersonalist Radical Civic Union  [ es ]	47,785	3.32	2	3
			Radical Civic Union (Caballerista)	23,437	1.63	0	0
			Opposition Radical Civic Union	13,402	0.93	0	0
			Radical Civic Union (Corvalanista)	10,074	0.70	0	0
			Radical Civic Union (Figueroísta)	6,558	0.45	0	0
			Principist Radical Civic Union  [ es ]	3,481	0.24	0	0
			Dissident Radical Civic Union	3,394	0.24	0	0
			Red Radical Civic Union	2,025	0.14	0	0
			Tucumán Radical Civic Union	1,905	0.13	0	0
		Total		164,654	11.42	3	8
	Socialist Party			123,680	8.58	1	1
	Independent Socialist Party			110,761	7.68	10	16
	Democratic Progressive Party			57,996	4.02	3	3
	Lencinist Radical Civic Union  [ es ]			19,378	1.34	1	2
	Provincial Defence–White Flag  [ es ]			12,778	0.89	0	0
	Public Health Party  [ es ]			12,307	0.85	0	0
	Communist Party of Argentina			6,863	0.48	0	0
	Blockist Radical Civic Union  [ es ]			2,885	0.20	1	1
	Agrarian Party			2,476	0.17	0	0
	Communist Party of the Argentine Republic			2,361	0.16	0	0
	Popular Party			2,263	0.16	0	0
	Others			3,204	0.22	0	0
Total				1,441,421	100.00	81	158
Valid votes				1,441,421	97.83
Invalid/blank votes				31,920	2.17
Total votes				1,473,341	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				1,983,246	74.29
Source: Cantón, [8] Diario Santa Fe, [9] Chamber of Deputies [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20]

References

1. Todo Argentina: 1929 (in Spanish)
2. Wirth, John. The Oil Business in Latin America. Beard Books, 2001
3. Unión Cívica Radical (Capital Federal) Evolución del radicalismo Parte I (1893-1928) Archived 2007-03-11 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish)
4. Todo Argentina: 1930 (in Spanish)
5. Frustrados magnicidios argentinos (in Spanish)
6. Nomina de diputados de la nacion por distrito electoral : periodo 1854-1991. Camara de Diputados de la Nación, Subdirección de Publicaciones e Investigaciones Históricas, 1991.
7. Rock, David. Authoritarian Argentina. University of California Press, 1995.
8. Cantón, Darío (1968). Materiales para el estudio de la sociología política en la Argentina (PDF). Vol. Tomo I. Buenos Aires: Centro de Investigaciones Sociales – Torcuato di Tella Institute. pp. 103–104.
9. "El escrutinio en la Capital Federal". Diario Santa Fe. 20 March 1930.
10. Expediente 56-D-1930 (PDF). Cámara de Diputados de la Nación Argentina. 1930.
11. Expediente 54-D-1930 (PDF). Cámara de Diputados de la Nación Argentina. 1930.
12. Expediente 32-D-1930 (PDF). Cámara de Diputados de la Nación Argentina. 1930.
13. Expediente 27-D-1930 (PDF). Cámara de Diputados de la Nación Argentina. 1930.
14. Expediente 18-D-1930 (PDF). Cámara de Diputados de la Nación Argentina. 1930.
15. Expediente 33-D-1930 (PDF). Cámara de Diputados de la Nación Argentina. 1930.
16. Expediente 2-OV-1930 (PDF). Cámara de Diputados de la Nación Argentina. 1930.
17. Expediente 28-D-1930 (PDF). Cámara de Diputados de la Nación Argentina. 1930.
18. Expediente 79-D-1930 (PDF). Cámara de Diputados de la Nación Argentina. 1930.
19. Expediente 25-D-1930 (PDF). Cámara de Diputados de la Nación Argentina. 1930.
20. Expediente 21-D-1930 (PDF). Cámara de Diputados de la Nación Argentina. 1930.