Argentine general election, 1983
Encyclopedia
The Argentine general election of 1983 was held on 30 October and marked the return of Democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...

 after the 1976's dictatorship self-known as National Reorganization Process
National Reorganization Process
The National Reorganization Process was the name used by its leaders for the military government that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. In Argentina it is often known simply as la última junta militar or la última dictadura , because several of them existed throughout its history.The Argentine...

. Voters fully chose the President, Governors, Mayors and their respective national, province and town legislators with a turnout of 85.6%, it produced the following results:

President

Party/Electoral Alliance Votes Percentage Electoral
College
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...

7,724,559 51.8% 336
Justicialist Party
Justicialist Party
The Justicialist Party , or PJ, is a Peronist political party in Argentina, and the largest component of the Peronist movement.The party was led by Néstor Kirchner, President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, until his death on October 27, 2010. The current Argentine president, Cristina Fernández de...

5,944,402 39.9% 247
Intransigent Party
Intransigent Party
The Intransigent Party is a political party in Argentina, founded in 1963 by Oscar Alende. Its membership came from the Intransigent Radical Civic Union , one of the two factions into which the Radical Civic Union had divided in 1956.The party has nationalist, populist, and center-left ideas...

347,654 2.3% 2
Integration and Development Movement
Integration and Development Movement
The Integration and Development Movement or MID is a political party in Argentina.-Historical overview:Flying to Caracas, Venezuela in 1956, Argentine wholesaler and publisher Rogelio Frigerio secretly negotiated an agreement between his friend, the centrist UCR's 1951 vice-presidential nominee...

177,426 1.2% 2
Autonomist
Autonomist Party of Corrientes
The Autonomist Party of Corrientes is a provincial political party in Argentina, Corrientes Province....

-Liberal
Liberal Party of Corrientes
The Liberal Party of Corrientes is a liberal conservative provincial political party in Corrientes Province, Argentina. Founded in 1856, it is the oldest political party in Argentina and in Latin America, the second oldest in the Americas....

 Pact (Corrientes Province
Corrientes Province
Corrientes is a province in northeast Argentina, in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by : Paraguay, the province of Misiones, Brazil, Uruguay, and the provinces of Entre Rios, Santa Fe and Chaco.-History:...

)
104,052 0.7% 1
Bloc
Leopoldo Bravo
Leopoldo Bravo was an Argentine politician and diplomat. A Senator and Ambassador to the Soviet Union, he was a three-time governor of San Juan Province, where he came to be regarded as a caudillo .-Career:...

 (San Juan Province)
58,038 0.4%
Federal Alliance
Federal Party (Argentina)
The Federal Party is a provincial political party in Argentina.It is a member of the national Recrear electoral alliance led by Ricardo López Murphy....

57,026 0.4%
Progressive
Democratic Progressive Party
The Democratic Progressive Party is a political party in Taiwan, and the dominant party in the Pan-Green Coalition. Founded in 1986, DPP is the first meaningful opposition party in Taiwan. It has traditionally been associated with strong advocacy of human rights and a distinct Taiwanese identity,...

 and Social Democratic Alliance
47,736 0.3%
Christian Democratic Party
Christian Democratic Party (Argentina)
The Christian Democratic Party is a Christian Democrat political party in Argentina.The Party was founded in 1954 after several other organisations had been active promoting Christian democracy in Argentina. Leading activists in its early years included José Allende and Horacio Sueldo...

46,544 0.3%
Movement towards Socialism 42,500 0.3%
People's Movement
Neuquino People's Movement
The Neuquén People's Movement is a provincial political party in the province of Neuquén, Argentina.The party was founded by, amongst others, Carlos Sobisch, Elías Sapag, Felipe Sapag and his brothers, Peronists who had been discriminated against by the military government...

 of Neuquén
Neuquén Province
Neuquén is a province of Argentina, located in the west of the country, at the northern end of Patagonia. It borders Mendoza Province to the north, Rio Negro Province to the southeast, and Chile to the west...

30,546 0.2%
Union of the Democratic Centre
Union of the Democratic Centre (Argentina)
The Union of the Democratic Centre is a conservative political party in Argentina. It was founded in 1982 by Álvaro Alsogaray who stood for the Party in the 1983 and 1989 presidential elections....

25,263 0.2%
Three Flags (Peronist) 22,583 0.2%
Popular Movement of Jujuy
Jujuy Province
Jujuy is a province of Argentina, located in the extreme northwest of the country, at the borders with Chile and Bolivia. The only neighboring Argentine province is Salta to the east and south.-History:...

22,303 0.2%
Popular Socialist Party
Popular Socialist Party (Argentina)
The Popular Socialist Party was a political party in Argentina formed in 1972 with the merger of the Argentine Socialist Party, the Movimiento de Acción Popular Argentino and other minor groups....

21,177 0.2%
Salta Renewal Party
Salta Renewal Party
The Salta Renewal Party is a provincial political party in Salta Province, Argentina.The party is a federalist party, believing in strong and renewed provinces with power decentralised from Buenos Aires. It is a member of the national Recrear electoral alliance led by Ricardo López Murphy.The...

18,844 0.1%
others 162,854 1.1%
Positive votes 14,927,512 97.2% 588
Blank and nullified votes 422,674 2.8% 12a
Total voters 15,303,726 100.0 600
aAbstentions.

Argentine Congress

Party/Electoral Alliance Lower House
Argentine Chamber of Deputies
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Argentine National Congress. This Chamber holds exclusive rights to create taxes, to draft troops, and to accuse the President, the ministers and the members of the Supreme Court before the Senate....


Seats
% of votes Senate
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...

UCR
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...

129 48.0% 18
Justicialist Party
Justicialist Party
The Justicialist Party , or PJ, is a Peronist political party in Argentina, and the largest component of the Peronist movement.The party was led by Néstor Kirchner, President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, until his death on October 27, 2010. The current Argentine president, Cristina Fernández de...

111 38.5% 20
Intransigent Party
Intransigent Party
The Intransigent Party is a political party in Argentina, founded in 1963 by Oscar Alende. Its membership came from the Intransigent Radical Civic Union , one of the two factions into which the Radical Civic Union had divided in 1956.The party has nationalist, populist, and center-left ideas...

3 2.8%
UCeDé
Union of the Democratic Centre (Argentina)
The Union of the Democratic Centre is a conservative political party in Argentina. It was founded in 1982 by Álvaro Alsogaray who stood for the Party in the 1983 and 1989 presidential elections....

2 1.2%
Autonomist-Liberal Pact
Autonomist Party of Corrientes
The Autonomist Party of Corrientes is a provincial political party in Argentina, Corrientes Province....


(Corrientes Province
Corrientes Province
Corrientes is a province in northeast Argentina, in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by : Paraguay, the province of Misiones, Brazil, Uruguay, and the provinces of Entre Rios, Santa Fe and Chaco.-History:...

)
2 0.8% 2
People's Movement
Neuquino People's Movement
The Neuquén People's Movement is a provincial political party in the province of Neuquén, Argentina.The party was founded by, amongst others, Carlos Sobisch, Elías Sapag, Felipe Sapag and his brothers, Peronists who had been discriminated against by the military government...


(Neuquén Province
Neuquén Province
Neuquén is a province of Argentina, located in the west of the country, at the northern end of Patagonia. It borders Mendoza Province to the north, Rio Negro Province to the southeast, and Chile to the west...

)
2 0.2% 2
Bloc
Leopoldo Bravo
Leopoldo Bravo was an Argentine politician and diplomat. A Senator and Ambassador to the Soviet Union, he was a three-time governor of San Juan Province, where he came to be regarded as a caudillo .-Career:...


(San Juan Province)
2 0.4% 2
Christian Democratic
Christian Democratic Party (Argentina)
The Christian Democratic Party is a Christian Democrat political party in Argentina.The Party was founded in 1954 after several other organisations had been active promoting Christian democracy in Argentina. Leading activists in its early years included José Allende and Horacio Sueldo...

1 1.0%
Others 2 7.1% 2
Invalid votes 3.5%
Total 254 100.0% 46

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.

Background

Few believed, as the morning headlines on March 24, 1976 announced a military coup d'état against President Isabel Perón, that most of the problems of financial instability, inflation, endemic corruption, international isolation and violence that typified her last year in office would be worsened by the self-appointed National Reorganization Process
National Reorganization Process
The National Reorganization Process was the name used by its leaders for the military government that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. In Argentina it is often known simply as la última junta militar or la última dictadura , because several of them existed throughout its history.The Argentine...

. As that regime's third dictator, General Leopoldo Galtieri
Leopoldo Galtieri
Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri Castelli was an Argentine general and President of Argentina from December 22, 1981 to June 18, 1982, during the last military dictatorship . The death squad Intelligence Battalion 601 directly reported to him...

, awoke in the early hours of June 18, 1982 to find a letter requesting he resign, however, he had no doubt that the Process had run its course. Against the wishes of Galtieri's commanders, the Joint Chiefs chose Army General Reynaldo Bignone
Reynaldo Bignone
Reynaldo Benito Antonio Bignone is an Argentine general who served as dictatorial President of Argentina from July 1, 1982 to December 10, 1983. In 2010, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in the kidnappings, torture, and murders of the Dirty War.-Early career:Reynaldo Benito...

 not so much the new President as the usher towards a democratic transition, which President Bignone announced would take place in March 1984. Inheriting an economy struggling under crushing interest rates imposed by the Central Bank Circular 1050, Bignone's new President of the institution, Domingo Cavallo
Domingo Cavallo
Domingo Felipe "Mingo" Cavallo is an Argentine economist and politician. He has a long history of public service and is known for implementing the Convertibilidad plan, which fixed the dollar-peso exchange rate at 1:1 between 1991 and 2001, which brought the Argentine inflation rate down from over...

, rescinded the policy in July, a move towards economic liberalization complemented by Bignone's restoring a limited right of assembly and free speech. Argentina's wide array of political parties, jointly pressing for elections through a "Multiparty" convened by centrist UCR
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...

 leader Ricardo Balbín
Ricardo Balbín
Ricardo Balbín was an Argentine lawyer and politician, and one of the most important figures of the centrist Radical Civic Union , for which he was the presidential nominee four times: in 1951, 1958, and twice in 1973....

 in 1981, geared for the imminent return to democracy.
Six years of intermittent wage freezes, policies adverse to industry and restrictive measures like the Circular 1050 had left GDP per capita at its lowest level since 1968 and real wages lower by around 40%. Given these conditions, the return of some freedoms quickly led to a wave of strikes, including two general strikes led by Saúl Ubaldini
Saúl Ubaldini
Saúl Edólver Ubaldini was an Argentine labor leader and parliamentarian for the Peronist Justicialist Party....

 of the CGT
General Confederation of Labour (Argentina)
The General Confederation of Labour of the Argentine Republic is a national trade union centre of Argentina founded on September 27, 1930, as the result of the merge of the USA and the COA trade union centres...

 labor union (then the largest in South America). Fanning antagonism on the part of hard-liners in the regime, this led Admiral Jorge Anaya
Jorge Anaya
Admiral Jorge Isaac Anaya was a member of the Argentine Navy. He was born in Bahía Blanca, in the province of Buenos Aires...

 (later court-martialed for gross malfeasance in the 1982 Falklands War
Falklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...

) to announce his candidacy for President in August, becoming the first to do so; amid popular jeers of "Anaya canalla" (Anaya the fiend), Bignone immediately thwarted the move.

Amid growing calls for quicker elections, police brutally repressed a December 16, 1982 demonstration in Buenos Aires' central Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....

, resulting in the death of one protester and Bignone's hopes for an indefinite postponement of elections. Devoting themselves to damage control, the regime began preparing for the transition by shredding evidence of their murder of 15-30,000 dissidents (most of which were students, academics and labor union personnel uninvolved in the violence Argentina suffered from 1973 to 1976). Hoping to quiet demands that their whereabouts be known, in February 1983 Buenos Aires Police Chief Ramón Camps
Ramón Camps
Ramón Juan Camps was an Argentine general and the head of the Buenos Aires Provincial Police during the military dictatorship known as the National Reorganization Process...

 publicly recognized the crime and asserted that the "disappeared" were, in fact, dead. Provoking popular indignation, Camps' interview forced President Bignone to cease denying the tragedy and, on April 28, declare a blanket amnesty for those involved (including himself).
Among the first prominent political figures to condemn the amnesty was the leader of the UCR's progressive wing, Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín was an Argentine lawyer, politician and statesman, who served as the President of Argentina from December 10, 1983, to July 8, 1989. Alfonsín was the first democratically-elected president of Argentina following the military government known as the National Reorganization...

, who easily secured his party's nomination during their convention in July. Alfonsín chose as his running mate Víctor Martínez
Víctor Hipólito Martínez
Víctor Hipólito Martínez is an Argentine lawyer and politician, best known for his role as Vice President during Raúl Alfonsín's 1983-89 tenure.-Life and times:Martínez was born and raised in Córdoba, Argentina...

, a more conservative UCR figure from Córdoba Province
Córdoba Province (Argentina)
Córdoba is a province of Argentina, located in the center of the country. Neighboring provinces are : Santiago del Estero, Santa Fe, Buenos Aires, La Pampa, San Luis, La Rioja and Catamarca...

. Their traditional opponents, the Justicialist Party
Justicialist Party
The Justicialist Party , or PJ, is a Peronist political party in Argentina, and the largest component of the Peronist movement.The party was led by Néstor Kirchner, President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, until his death on October 27, 2010. The current Argentine president, Cristina Fernández de...

, struggled to find candidates for not only the top of the ticket, but for a number of the more important local races, as well. Following conferences that dragged on for two months after the UCR nominated Alfonsín, the Justicialists' left wing (the target of much of the repression before and after the 1976 coup) proved little match for the CGT's influence within the party. They nominated ideological opposites Ítalo Lúder
Ítalo Argentino Lúder
Ítalo Argentino Lúder was an Argentinian politician who served as the acting President of Argentina from September 13, 1975 until October 16, 1975, for Isabel Perón....

, who had served as acting President during Mrs. Perón's September 1975 sick leave, for President and former Chaco Province
Chaco Province
Chaco is an Argentine province located in the north of the country, near the border with Paraguay. Its capital is Resistencia on the Paraná River opposite the city of Corrientes...

 Governor Deolindo Bittel
Deolindo Bittel
Deolindo Bittel was a prominent Argentine politician.-Early career and entry into politics:Deolindo Felipe Bittel was born in Villa Ángela, a Chaco Province town known for its tannin industry, in 1922 to a farming family of French Belgian descent...

 as his running mate; whereas Lúder had authorized repression against the violent left in 1975, Bittel was a populist renowned for his defense of Habeas Corpus
Habeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...

during the subsequent dictatorship.
Constrained by time, Alfonsín focused his strategy on accusing the Justicialists, who had refused to condemn Bignone's military amnesty, of enjoying the dictator's tacit support. Alfonsín enjoyed the valuable support of a number of Argentine intellectuals and artists, including playwright Carlos Gorostiza
Carlos Gorostiza
Carlos Gorostiza is a prominent Argentine playwright, theatre director and novelist.-Life and work:Carlos Gorostiza was born to Basque Argentine parents in the upscale Buenos Aires borough of Palermo...

, who devised the UCR candidate's slogan, "Ahora, Alfonsín."

Lúder, aware of intraparty tensions, limited his campaign ads and rhetoric largely to an evocation of the founder of the Justicialist Party, the late Juan Perón
Juan Perón
Juan Domingo Perón was an Argentine military officer, and politician. Perón was three times elected as President of Argentina though he only managed to serve one full term, after serving in several government positions, including the Secretary of Labor and the Vice Presidency...

. Polls gave neither man an edge and on election day, October 30, as Argentines gathered in a then-record turnout, the Justicialist candidate for Governor of Buenos Aires Province
Buenos Aires Province
The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...

, Herminio Iglesias
Herminio Iglesias
Herminio Iglesias was an Argentine politician.The son of Galician immigrants, at the age of 13, Iglesias began to work in a factory, where, at age 21, he was appointed as a union shop steward....

, threw a (premature) "victory rally" in which a coffin draped in the UCR colors was burned before the television cameras.

The bonfire ignited the electorate's bitter memories of Isabel Perón's tenure and helped result in a solid victory for the UCR. The Peronists were given a majority in the Senate and 12 of 22 governorships. The UCR secured only 7 governors, though the nation's largest province, Buenos Aires, would be governed by the UCR's Alejandro Armendáriz
Alejandro Armendáriz
Alejandro Armendáriz was an Argentine physician and politician.-Early career:Armendáriz was born in Saladillo, a pampas town in the Province of Buenos Aires, in 1923. His family relocated to the city of Buenos Aires in 1940, where he graduated from the Marist College of San José , the following year...

. The elections themselves, which allowed Alfonsín to persuade Bignone to advance the inaugural to December 10, 1983, became, in playwright Carlos Gorostiza's words, "more than a democratic way out, a way into life."

Candidates for President

  • 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...

     (centrist): Former Deputy Raúl Alfonsín
    Raúl Alfonsín
    Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín was an Argentine lawyer, politician and statesman, who served as the President of Argentina from December 10, 1983, to July 8, 1989. Alfonsín was the first democratically-elected president of Argentina following the military government known as the National Reorganization...

     of Buenos Aires
  • Justicialist Party
    Justicialist Party
    The Justicialist Party , or PJ, is a Peronist political party in Argentina, and the largest component of the Peronist movement.The party was led by Néstor Kirchner, President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, until his death on October 27, 2010. The current Argentine president, Cristina Fernández de...

     (populist): Former Senator Ítalo Lúder
    Ítalo Argentino Lúder
    Ítalo Argentino Lúder was an Argentinian politician who served as the acting President of Argentina from September 13, 1975 until October 16, 1975, for Isabel Perón....

     of Santa Fe
  • Intransigent Party
    Intransigent Party
    The Intransigent Party is a political party in Argentina, founded in 1963 by Oscar Alende. Its membership came from the Intransigent Radical Civic Union , one of the two factions into which the Radical Civic Union had divided in 1956.The party has nationalist, populist, and center-left ideas...

     (center-left): Former Governor Oscar Alende
    Oscar Alende
    Oscar Eduardo Alende was an Argentine politician who founded the Intransigent Party.Alende was born in Maipú, Buenos Aires Province. He studied medicine at the University of La Plata, where he led the student union, and completed his medical studies at the University of Buenos Aires in 1933...

     of Buenos Aires
  • Integration and Development Movement
    Integration and Development Movement
    The Integration and Development Movement or MID is a political party in Argentina.-Historical overview:Flying to Caracas, Venezuela in 1956, Argentine wholesaler and publisher Rogelio Frigerio secretly negotiated an agreement between his friend, the centrist UCR's 1951 vice-presidential nominee...

     (development focus): Economist Rogelio Frigerio
    Rogelio Frigerio
    Rogelio Frigerio was an Argentine economist, journalist and politician.-Background and early career:Rogelio Frigerio was born in Buenos Aires in 1914 to Gerónimo Frigerio and Carmen Guanzaroli...

    of Buenos Aires
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