1954 Argentine general election

1954 Argentine general election

←  1951 25 April 1954 1958  →
Vice presidential election
Registered	9,222,075
Turnout	85.58%
Nominee Alberto Teisaire Crisólogo Larralde  [ es ] Party Peronist Party Radical Civic Union Popular vote 4,944,106 2,493,422 Percentage 64.52% 32.22%
Results by province
Vice President before election Vacant (Hortensio Quijano deceased in 1952) Vice President-elect Alberto Teisaire Peronist Party
Chamber of Deputies election
88 of the 169 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
Turnout	86.00%
Party Vote % Seats +/– Peronist Party 64.28 74 +4 Radical Civic Union 32.31 5 −2 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Senate election
18 of the 34 seats in the Senate
Party Seats +/– Peronist Party 18 +3 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

General elections were held in Argentina on 25 April 1954. Voters chose both their legislators and the Vice-president of Argentina with a turnout of 85%.

Background

The death of his wife and closest advisor, Evita, stuck President Juan Perón amid serious difficulties. A severe drought in 1952 and years of pessimism in Argentina's important agrarian sector depleted foreign reserves and forced Perón to curtail public lending and spending programs. The recession (and a bumper crop) did, however, allow Central Bank reserves to recover and brought inflation (50% in 1951) to single digits. ^[1]

Controversy surrounding Perón's in-laws and political violence both by and against his Peronist movement had dogged the president in the first half of 1953, and he took the opportunity of upcoming legislative polls to test his popularity. The Argentine Constitution did not require it at the time, but the President announced a special election to replace the late Vice President, Hortensio Quijano. Dr. Quijano had died on April 3, 1952, two months and one day before his term was to have ended on June 4, 1952. Perón nominated Senator Alberto Teisaire as the candidate for the then named Partido Peronista (Peronist Party).

Teisaire was familiar to Perón from the 1943 coup d'état; the former rear admiral had helped retain the normally restive Navy's support for the populist leader before and after Perón's 1946 election and, after eight years in the Senate, he remained close to the military - a far from trivial consideration. ^[2]

In the opposition since 15 years before Perón took office, the centrist UCR had been burdened by censorship and sundry forms of harassment since 1930, and 1953 had been marked by the jailing of most of their leaders. Among the few prominent figures in the party available to run for the vice-presidency was Crisólogo Larralde  [ es ]. Larralde had opposed the UCR's 1945 alliance with conservatives and socialists against Perón, and was a well-known figure in the UCR's dissident, pro-Perón "Renewal Group." This did not, however, ease the UCR's restriction to access to most mass media, and the party was defeated by similar numbers to their 1951 loss. ^[3]

Results

Vice president

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Alberto Teisaire	Peronist Party	4,994,106	64.52
	Crisólogo Larralde  [ es ]	Radical Civic Union	2,493,422	32.22
	Benito de Miguel  [ es ]	National Democratic Party	105,550	1.36
	Alcira de la Peña	Communist Party of Argentina	89,624	1.16
	Luciano Molinas  [ es ]	Democratic Progressive Party	54,054	0.70
	José Fernando Penelón  [ es ]	Labour Gathering Party	3,183	0.04
Total			7,739,939	100.00
Valid votes			7,739,939	98.07
Invalid/blank votes			152,422	1.93
Total votes			7,892,361	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			9,222,075	85.58
Source: National University of San Martín [4]

Chamber of Deputies

Party		Votes	%	Seats
				Deputies won	Deputies total	Delegates won	Delegates total	Total seats
	Peronist Party	4,977,586	64.28	74	143	9	14	157
	Radical Civic Union	2,502,109	32.31	5	12	0	0	12
	National Democratic Party	104,006	1.34	0	0	0	0	0
	Communist Party of Argentina	88,007	1.14	0	0	0	0	0
	Democratic Progressive Party	46,077	0.60	0	0	0	0	0
	Socialist Party of the National Revolution  [ es ]	22,516	0.29	0	0	0	0	0
	Labour Gathering Party	3,183	0.04	0	0	0	0	0
Total		7,743,484	100.00	79	155	9	14	169
Valid votes		7,743,484	97.93
Invalid/blank votes		163,374	2.07
Total votes		7,906,858	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		9,194,157	86.00
Source: Nohlen [5]

Senate

Party		Seats
		Won	Total
	Peronist Party	18	34
	Radical Civic Union	0	0
	National Democratic Party	0	0
	Communist Party of Argentina	0	0
	Democratic Progressive Party	0	0
	Socialist Party of the National Revolution  [ es ]	0	0
Total		18	34

References

1. Todo Argentina: 1953 (in Spanish)
2. Potash, Robert. The Army and Politics in Argentina. Stanford University Press, 1996.
3. Todo Argentina: 1954 (in Spanish)
4. National University of San Martín
5. Nohlen, Dieter (2005). Elections in the Americas: A Data Handbook. Vol. II: South America. Nueva York: Oxford University Press. ISBN   0-19-928358-3.