Argentine general election, 1963

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Argentine general election, 1963

Flag of Argentina.svg


  1958 July 7, 1963 1973  

476 members of the Electoral College
239 votes needed to win

  PP Illia.jpg Oscar Alende y Celestino Gelsi 1965.JPG Aramburu2.jpg
Nominee Arturo Illia Oscar Alende Pedro Aramburu
Party UCRP UCRI UDELPA
Home state Córdoba Buenos Aires Córdoba
Running mate Carlos Perette Celestino Gelsi Horacio Thedy
Electoral vote270 86 74
States carried13 + CF 5 1
Popular vote2,441,064 1,593,002 1,346,342
Percentage25.2% 16.4% 13.9%

President before election

José María Guido
UCRI

Elected President

Arturo Illia
UCRP

The Argentine general election of 1963 was held on 7 July. Voters chose both the President and their legislators; with a turnout of 85.6%, resulting in the election of Arturo Illia as President of Argentina.

President of Argentina Head of State of Argentina

The President of Argentina, officially known as the President of the Argentine Republic, is both head of state and head of government of Argentina. Under the national Constitution, the President is also the chief executive of the federal government and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.

Contents

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]

Arturo Frondizi President of Argentina

Arturo Frondizi Ercoli was an Argentine politician and lawyer who was President of Argentina from 1 May 1958 until 29 March 1962, for the Intransigent Radical Civic Union, which he led until 1986.

Andrés Framini Argentine labor leader

Andrés Framini was an Argentine labor leader and politician.

Buenos Aires Province Province of Argentina

Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous Argentinian province. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be part of the province and the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880. Since then, in spite of bearing the same name, the province does not include the national capital city proper, though it does include all other localities of the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area surrounding it. The current capital of the province is the city of La Plata, founded in 1882.

A military adjutant watches over interim President Guido, an unwitting metaphor as Army factions wrestled for control of his puppet regime. Guido2.jpg
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]

Argentine Army ground warfare branch of Argentinas armed forces

The Argentine Army is the land armed force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of the country. Under the Argentine Constitution, the President of Argentina is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, exercising his or her command authority through the Minister of Defense.

Communications in Argentina gives an overview of the postal, telephone, Internet, radio, television, and newspaper services available in Argentina.

Constitution of Argentina

The Constitution of Argentina is the basic governing document of Argentina, and the primary source of existing law in Argentina. Its first version was written in 1853 by a Constitutional Assembly gathered in Santa Fe, and the doctrinal basis was taken in part from the United States Constitution. It was then reformed in 1860, 1866, 1898, 1949, 1957, and the current version is the reformed text of 1994.

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]

Río Negro Province Province of Argentina

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.

Juan Carlos Onganía de facto President of Argentina from 29 June 1966 to 8 June 1970

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 the president Arturo Illia in a coup d'état self-named Revolución Argentina.

The following table contains the monthly historical exchange rate of the different currencies of Argentina, expressed in Argentine currency units per United States dollar. The exchange rate at the end of each month is expressed in:

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]

Radical Civic Union Argentine political party

The Radical Civic Union is a centrist social-liberal political party in Argentina. The party has been ideologically heterogeneous, ranging from classical liberalism to social democracy. The UCR is a member of the Socialist International.

Argentine Chamber of Deputies lower house of Argentina Congress

The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Argentine National Congress. It is made up of 257 national deputies who are elected in multi-member constituencies corresponding with the territories of the 23 provinces of Argentina by party list proportional representation. Elections to the Chamber are held every two years; half of its members are renewed each election.

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]

Juan Perón President of Argentina

Juan Domingo Perón was an Argentine Army general and politician. After serving in several government positions, including Minister of Labor and Vice President, he was elected President of Argentina three times, serving from June 1946 to September 1955, when he was overthrown in a coup d'état, and then from October 1973 until his death in July 1974.

Madrid Capital of Spain

Madrid is the capital of Spain and the largest municipality in both the Community of Madrid and Spain as a whole. The city has almost 3.3 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.5 million. It is the third-largest city in the European Union (EU), smaller than only London and Berlin, and its monocentric metropolitan area is the third-largest in the EU, smaller only than those of London and Paris. The municipality covers 604.3 km2 (233.3 sq mi).

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

Results

President

Party/Electoral Alliance Votes PercentageElectoral
College
People's Radical Civic Union (UCRP) 2,441,064 25.2% 270
Intransigent Radical Civic Union (UCRI) 1,593,002 16.4% 86
Union of the Argentine People (UDELPA)
Democratic Progressive Party
726,861
619,481
7.5%
6.4%
UDELPA-PDP alliance 1,346,342 13.9% 74
National Federation of Centrist Parties 499,822 5.1% 11
Christian Democratic Party 434,823 4.5%
Socialist Party 278,856 2.9% 12
Democratic Socialist Party 258,787 2.7%
Democratic Party 185,861 1.9%
Others 613,824 6.3% 8
Positive votes 7,651,985 78.8% 461
Blank and nullified votes 2,058,131 21.2% 15a
Total voters 9,710,116 100.0% 476

aAbstentions.

Argentine Chamber of Deputies

Party/Electoral Alliance Seats Change % of votes
UCRP 73Decrease2.svg1 28.5%
UCRI 40Decrease2.svg69 16.4%
Popular Union and other neo-Peronist parties 16Increase2.svg16 n.a.
UDELPA 14Increase2.svg14 7.5%
PDP 12Increase2.svg12 6.4%
Christian Democratic 7Increase2.svg7 4.5%
Socialist 6Increase2.svg6 2.9%
Democratic Socialist 5Increase2.svg5 2.7%
Democratic
(Mendoza Province)
4Increase2.svg4 1.9%
Others 15Increase2.svg6 n.a.
Invalid votes 21.2%
Total 192 100.0%

[7] [8]

Electoral system: Proportional representation by districts according to the D'Hondt method. Seats are divided among those lists of candidates from parties or electoral alliances that obtain at least 3% of the electoral census or working electoral of the district.

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References

  1. "Todo Argentina: 1962".
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Potash, Robert (1996). The Army and Politics in Argentina. Stanford University Press.
  3. Encyclopædia Britannica Book of the Year, 1965: communications.
  4. 1 2 3 "Todo Argentina: 1963".
  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. 1 2 Nohlen, Dieter. Elections in the Americas. Oxford University Press, 2005.
  8. "Historia Electoral Argentina" (PDF). Ministerio del Interior. p. 119.