1963 Argentine general election

1963 Argentine general election

Presidential election
←  1958 7 July 1963 March 1973  →
476 members of the Electoral College 239 votes needed to win
Registered	11,356,240
Turnout	85.50%
Nominee Arturo Illia Oscar Alende Pedro Aramburu Party UCRP UCRI UDELPA Running mate Carlos Perette Celestino Gelsi Various Electoral vote 270 86 74 Popular vote 2,441,064 1,593,002 1,362,596 Percentage 31.90% 20.82% 17.81%
Results by province
President before election José María Guido UCRI Elected President Arturo Illia UCRP
Legislative election
←  1962 7 July 1963 1965  →
192 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
Turnout	85.48%
Party Vote % Seats People's Radical Civic Union  [ es ] 30.79 72 Intransigent Radical Civic Union 19.63 40 UDELPA–PDP 15.58 27 Neoperonists 9.00 17 National Federation of Centre Parties  [ es ] 6.14 10 Christian Democratic Party 5.55 7 Argentine Socialist Party 3.91 6 Democratic Socialist Party 3.90 5 Autonomist–Liberal Pact 1.29 4 Blockist Radical Civic Union  [ es ] 0.59 1 Renewal Crusade Radical Civic Union 0.41 1 Provincial Defence–White Flag  [ es ] 0.31 1 Provincial Party 0.21 1 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Results by province

General elections were held in Argentina on 7 July 1963. Voters chose both the President and their legislators; with a turnout of 86%, resulting in the election of Arturo Illia as President of Argentina.

Background

The spectre of military intervention so much in evidence after the election of Arturo Frondizi in 1958 became reality following his coerced resignation on March 29, 1962. His UCRI candidates had done well; but the evening's big surprise, Andrés Framini's election as Governor of Buenos Aires Province (one of ten Peronists to win gubernatorial polls that night), proved unacceptable to the armed forces. ^[1] An array of political leaders had been lobbying the military against Frondizi, as well: centrist UCRP leader Ricardo Balbín (whom Frondizi defeated on a splinter ticket in 1958) and conservative economist Álvaro Alsogaray (whom Frondizi sidestepped in favor of pro-industry economist Rogelio Julio Frigerio) both openly celebrated the president's unceremonious exit. ^[2]

A military adjutant watches over interim President Guido, an unwitting metaphor as Army factions wrestled for control of his puppet regime.

The matter of Frondizi's successor, itself, became a subject of contention within the armed forces. The two opposing camps defined themselves as either "Blues" ((in Spanish)Azules, at pains to maintain a patina of legality over the destabilizing intervention) or "Reds" ((in Spanish)Colorados, lacking any compunction against imposing a prolonged and repressive dictatorship). The stalemate lasted merely a day because most of the Army High Command were "Blues," whose preference of a "legal" solution to the vacuum was supported by most of the press and the Argentine public, ^[2] then enjoying Latin America's widest access to the media. ^[3] Relying on constitutional guidelines, they named the reluctant Senate President José María Guido Head of State. ^[2]

Guido, a moderate senator from then-remote Río Negro Province, had been elected on Frondizi's 's UCRI ticket. His prompt resignation from the UCRI and annulment of the March 18 mid-term elections did not immediately dispel the threat of a coup attempt, however, and mutinies in April and August resulted in the appointment of Army General Juan Carlos Onganía (who successfully rebelled against his "Red" superiors) as Head of the Military Joint Chiefs. The more stable military panorama was overshadowed by economic worries. ^[2] Following a brief period of robust growth led by industrial production, President Guido's economic team, led by Alsogaray, imposed a fresh devaluation and austerity measures such as strict credit controls and even the payment of state salaries with nearly-worthless bonds. GDP fell by 4% in 1962-63 and unemployment rose to nearly 9%. ^[4]

The Radical Civic Union (UCR) was again divided between the Intransigent (UCRI) and more conservative Popular (UCRP) factions as they convened in March 1963. The UCRP nominated former Córdoba Province Vice-Governor Arturo Illia, a country doctor fondly remembered for his work in the Public Health Committee in Congress; Balbín, who still led the UCRP, opted out of the nomination at the party's March 10 convention believing that a less anti-Peronist choice would give the UCRP a critical advantage over the rival UCRI. ^[2]

The UCRI, as they had done in 1958, initially hoped to secure the exiled Juan Perón's endorsement who, from Madrid, still directly controlled a fifth of the Argentine electorate. Permitted to field local and Lower House candidates (but still banned from either the Senate or the Presidency) Peronist voters, like in 1962, rallied behind the UP and six other parties. Their intention to run in the less-than-free elections was itself in defiance of Perón, however, who refused to endorse "neo-Peronist" candidates and instead called for blank ballots. Alejandro Leloir, who had fallen out with fellow neo-Peronists as well as Perón, ran for President independently on the Three Flags ticket; named for the "three Peronist flags" of sovereignty, independence, and social justice, this became the only Peronist ticket allowed on the presidential ballot in 1963. ^[5]

Against opposition from former Buenos Aires Governor Oscar Alende, Frondizi and Perón initially agreed on a "National Popular Front," fielding a respected, moderately conservative publisher as the nominee, Vicente Solano Lima. Tricked by a similar move in 1958, the military objected, however, leading to the brutal 1963 Argentine Navy Revolt on April 2, which cost 24 lives and effectively scuttled the Perón-Frondizi front. These incidents led former President Pedro Aramburu run on his UDELPA ticket, thus hoping to provide those most likely to support a military coup a suitable, center-right choice instead. He was also endorsed by the more moderate Democratic Progressive Party, whose leader, Horacio Thedy, ran as Aramburu's running mate; making fears of Perón's return his battle horse, Aramburu's slogan was unequivocal: Vote UDELPA...and HE won't return! ^[2] Other anti-Peronist conservatives supported former Córdoba Mayor Emilio Olmos and the FNPC. ^[6]

Hamstrung by Frondizi's open enmity against Alende for the latter's rejection of the ultimately aborted Front, as well as Perón's call for blank ballots, Alende's UCRI was defeated in an upset by Dr. Arturo Illia and the UCRP. ^[4]

The renewed ban on the participation of Peronist candidates resulted in the highest percentage of blank votes in Argentine electoral history; ^[4] Leloir's Three Flags ticket received 4 electoral votes. ^[7]

Candidates for President

• Radical Civic Union (centrist): Former Deputy Arturo Umberto Illia of Córdoba
• Intransigent Radical Civic Union (center-left): Former Governor Oscar Alende of Buenos Aires
• UDELPA (conservative): Former de facto President Pedro Eugenio Aramburu of Córdoba
• National Federation of Center Parties (conservative): Former Córdoba Mayor Emilio Olmos
• Christian Democratic Party (centrist): Former Deputy Horacio Sueldo of Buenos Aires
• Socialist Party: Former Senator Alfredo Palacios of Buenos Aires

• 
  Illia
• 
  Alende
• 
  Aramburu
• 
  Sueldo
• 
  Palacios

Results

President

Candidate		Running mate	Party or alliance			Popular vote		Electoral College		Electoral vote
						Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%
	Arturo Umberto Illia	Carlos Humberto Perette	People's Radical Civic Union  [ es ]			2,441,064	31.90	168	35.29	270	58.57
	Oscar Alende	Celestino Gelsi  [ es ]	Intransigent Radical Civic Union			1,593,002	20.82	110	23.11	86	18.66
	Pedro Eugenio Aramburu	Arturo J. Etchevehere	Aramburu		Union of the Argentine People	726,861	9.50	42	8.82	74	16.05
		Horacio Thedy			Democratic Progressive Party	619,481	8.10	30	6.30
					Misiones Alliance (UDELPA–PDP)	14,453	0.19	3	0.63
					UDELPA–PDP	1,801	0.02
				Total		1,362,596	17.81	75	15.76
	Emilio Olmos Jr.  [ es ]	Emilio Jofré  [ es ]	National Federation of Centre Parties  [ es ]			511,779	6.69	31	6.51
	Horacio Sueldo  [ es ]	Francisco Eduardo Cerro  [ es ]	Christian Democratic Party			434,823	5.68	23	4.83
	Alfredo Palacios	Ramón I. Soria	Argentine Socialist Party			278,856	3.64	12	2.52	12	2.60
	Alfredo Orgaz  [ es ]	Rodolfo Fitte	Democratic Socialist Party			258,787	3.38	10	2.10
	Justo León Bengoa  [ es ]	Alejandro H. Leloir  [ es ]	Bengoa		Social Justice Party	83,302	1.09	4	0.84	1	0.22
					National Front Movement	40,164	0.52	1	0.21
					Labour Party	20,560	0.27
					National Independent Party	6,745	0.09
				Total		150,771	1.97	5	1.05
	Alejandro H. Leloir  [ es ]		Three Flags Party			113,941	1.49	7	1.47	4	0.87
			White Party			70,860	0.93	3	0.63
			Liberal Party of Corrientes			59,696	0.78	5	1.05
			Blockist Radical Civic Union  [ es ]			46,088	0.60	4	0.84
			Democratic Federal Movement			42,116	0.55	5	1.05
			Autonomist Party of Corrientes			38,907	0.51	3	0.63
			Agrarian Social Party			37,630	0.49
			Renewal Crusade Radical Civic Union			31,718	0.41	3	0.63
			National Union			30,730	0.40	1	0.21
			Provincial Defence–White Flag  [ es ]			23,437	0.31	2	0.42
	Juan Francisco Castro  [ es ]		National Action			22,993	0.30
			Neuquén People's Movement			20,648	0.27	6	1.26
			Provincial Party			16,086	0.21	2	0.42
			Colorado Party			10,929	0.14
			Democratic Conservative People's Party			10,493	0.14
			Socialist Party			9,483	0.12
			People's Party			9,371	0.12
			Democratic Concentration			6,028	0.08
			Popular Intransigent Radical Civic Union			5,301	0.07	1	0.21
			Misiones Popular Civic Union			4,212	0.06
			Blue and White Party			3,993	0.05
			La Rioja Radical Civic Union			2,705	0.04
			Autonomist Democratic Party			1,337	0.02
			Formosa Civic Union			945	0.01
			Argentine Socialist Vanguard Party  [ es ]			475	0.01
			Conservative Provincial Workers Party			185	0.00
	Carlos Sylvestre Begnis		Intransigent Radical Civic Union							11	2.39
	Edmundo Eduardo Blanchet		Three Flags Party							3	0.65
Total						7,651,985	100.00	476	100.00	461	100.00
Valid votes						7,651,985	78.80			461	99.35
Invalid votes						173,696	1.79			0	0.00
Blank votes						1,884,435	19.41			3	0.65
Total votes						9,710,116	100.00			464	100.00
Registered voters/turnout						11,356,240	85.50			476	97.48
Source: Cantón, [8] Ministry of the Interior, [9] Nohlen [7]

Chamber of Deputies

Party or alliance				Votes	%	Seats
						1963–1965	1963–1967	Total
	People's Radical Civic Union  [ es ]			2,419,269	30.79	36	36	72
	Intransigent Radical Civic Union			1,542,072	19.63	20	20	40
	UDELPA–PDP		Union of the Argentine People	654,392	8.33	7	7	14
			Democratic Progressive Party	555,891	7.08	6	6	12
			Misiones Alliance	12,110	0.15	0	1	1
			UDELPA–PDP	1,737	0.02	0	0	–
		Total		1,224,130	15.58	13	14	27
	Neoperonism		Popular Union	165,922	2.11	3	1	4
			Three Flags Party	113,715	1.45	1	2	3
			White Party	71,149	0.91	0	1	1
			People's Party	70,031	0.89	0	0	0
			Social Justice Party	66,976	0.85	1	0	1
			National Labour Party	54,449	0.69	0	2	2
			Workers' White Party	46,777	0.60	0	2	2
			Democratic Federal Movement	42,491	0.54	0	1	1
			National Front Movement	40,649	0.52	0	0	0
			Labour Party	31,969	0.41	0	0	0
			San Luis Popular Action	23,126	0.29	1	0	1
			Neuquén People's Movement	20,572	0.26	2	0	2
			National Independent Party	7,087	0.09	0	0	0
		Total		707,177	9.00	8	9	17
	National Federation of Centre Parties  [ es ]		Democratic Party	191,751	2.44	2	2	4
			Conservative Union	141,619	1.80	1	2	3
			Conservative Democratic Party	52,134	0.66	1	0	1
			Liberal Democratic Party	38,842	0.49	1	0	1
			United Democratic Party	27,719	0.35	0	1	1
			Provincial Union	15,477	0.20	0	0	0
			Conservative Party	8,141	0.10	0	0	0
			Popular Democratic Party	5,121	0.07	0	0	0
			Misiones Liberal Party	1,202	0.02	0	0	0
		Total		482,006	6.14	5	5	10
	Christian Democratic Party			436,932	5.56	3	4	7
	Argentine Socialist Party			306,870	3.91	3	3	6
	Democratic Socialist Party			306,648	3.90	3	2	5
	Autonomist–Liberal Pact			101,193	1.29	2	2	4
	Blockist Radical Civic Union  [ es ]			46,365	0.59	1	0	1
	Social Agrarian Party			37,297	0.47	0	0	0
	Renewal Crusade Radical Civic Union			32,050	0.41	1	0	1
	National Union			26,961	0.34	0	0	0
	Provincial Defence–White Flag  [ es ]			24,422	0.31	0	1	1
	National Action Crusade			21,335	0.27	0	0	0
	Union of Argentine Retirees			18,613	0.24	0	0	0
	Provincial Party			16,333	0.21	1	0	1
	Colorado Party			11,031	0.14	0	0	0
	Conservative Democratic People's Party			10,635	0.14	0	0	0
	Socialist Party			9,415	0.12	0	0	0
	Democratic Concentration			6,310	0.08	0	0	0
	People's Intransigent Radical Civic Union			5,338	0.07	0	0	0
	Misiones Popular Civic Union			4,099	0.05	0	0	0
	Blue and White Party			3,948	0.05	0	0	0
	La Rioja Radical Civic Union			2,826	0.04	0	0	0
	National Action-Civic Union of Workers			1,672	0.02	0	0	0
	Democratic Autonomist Party			1,465	0.02	0	0	0
	Formosa Civic Union			960	0.01	0	0	0
	National Workers' Party			760	0.01	0	0	0
	Argentine Socialist Vanguard Party  [ es ]			448	0.01	0	0	0
	Provincial Conservative Workers' Party			184	0.00	0	0	0
Total				7,856,500	100.00	96	96	192
Valid votes				7,856,500	80.94
Invalid/blank votes				1,850,546	19.06
Total votes				9,707,046	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				11,356,235	85.48
Source: [10]

References

1. "Todo Argentina: 1962". Archived from the original on September 29, 2008.
2. Potash, Robert (1996). The Army and Politics in Argentina. Stanford University Press.
3. Encyclopædia Britannica Book of the Year, 1965: communications.
4. "Todo Argentina: 1963". Archived from the original on 2009-02-18. Retrieved 2009-01-03.
5. McGuire, James (1997). Peronism Without Peron: Unions, Parties, and Democracy in Argentina. Stanford University Press.
6. "Murió el ingeniero Emilio Olmos". La Nación.
7. Nohlen, Dieter (2005). Elections in the Americas: A Data Handbook. Vol. II: South America. Nueva York: Oxford University Press. ISBN   0-19-928358-3.
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. 227–232.
9. Historia Electoral Argentina (1912-2007) (PDF). Ministry of Interior - Subsecretaría de Asuntos Políticos y Electorales. December 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 September 2014.
10. Elecciones Nacionales: Presidenciales y Legislativas 1963. Elecciones Provinciales: Gobernadores y Legislativas 1963. Autoridades Municipales 1963. General Archive of the Nation.