Argentine legislative election, 1991
Encyclopedia
The Argentine legislative elections of 1991 were held between August and December, though most polls took place on 8 September. Voters chose their legislators and governors and, with a turnout of 79.9%, it produced the following results:
, Governor Carlos Menem
exhorted voters in May 1989 that "following me will not disappoint you!" Elected in a landslide, his administration had a rocky start marked by an early stabilization plan that had failed by December and a series of corruption scandals surrounding his freewheeling in-laws. After a tentative stability had been achieved by the end of 1990, a new currency crisis
in January 1991 led President Menem to transfer his Foreign Minister
, Domingo Cavallo
, to the Economics Ministry. Cavallo, an unorthodox economist remembered for having rescinded the Central Bank's hated Circular 1050 and its crushing interest rate surcharges during a stint as Central Bank President in 1982, was entrusted to bring stability to Argentina's shredded currency
, the austral
, and to begin the repair of Argentina's nearly non-existent relations with its foreign creditors (owed arrears on billions of debt since 1988) and the country's own sizable upper class (who held well over US$50 billion in assets abroad).
Backed partly by a then-record US$8 billion trade surplus in 1990 and partly by the assumption that Menem's free-market policies would encourage a wave of foreign direct investment
, Cavallo's Convertibility Plan
tied the Argentine currency to the U.S. dollar, leading a sharp drop in local interest rates and to a recovery in local deposits, lending and the depressed economy soon after the plan's March 27, 1991 introduction. Currency stability led particularly to lower inflation, which fell from 1,350% in 1990 to 84% in 1991; prices rose 1.3% in the month of August (the best showing since 1974) and the hitherto unpopular Menem saw his approval soar. Menem's turn against time-honored Justicialist Party
tenets such as the support of labor laws and the encouragement of State enterprises (policies defined in the 1940s by the party's very founder, Juan Perón
), led some in his party to run on splinter Peronist tickets, which did well - but came far from seriously challenging the official party ticket.
Menem's contentious divorce from his wife of 25 years, Zulema Yoma
, reports of massive corruption surrounding his in-laws and the resignation under indictment of his Public Works Minister and privatization
s guru, Roberto Dromi, could not overshadow the improving economic climate among the electorate at large. The Justicialist Party
's victory in the 1991 mid-term elections was not so much absolute as it was relative: the party made no inroads into their large majorities in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies
or among the nation's governors; indeed, they lost 3 of their 17 governors elected in 1987. They did, however, increase their difference over the UCR
, whose leader, former President Raúl Alfonsín
, resigned amid scorn over the shadow his chaotic 1983-89 tenure seemed to cast over these polls. The UCR, in two upsets, wrested governorships in Catamarca
and Chubut Province
s, however. The paramount Buenos Aires Province
gave Vice-President Eduardo Duhalde
a 2-to-1 victory over the UCR's gray eminence, former Economy Minister Juan Carlos Pugliese; in the Greater Buenos Aires
area, on the other hand, one-time mutineer Col. Aldo Rico
was able to translate voters' anger in the over rising illegal immigration and crime rates into an unexpected 3 seats in Congress for his far-right MODIN. These elections helped consolidate the scandal-plagued Menem's tenuous grasp on the presidency, making them (in his words) "the day Menemism was born."
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 |
Vote Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 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... |
116 | 40.2% |
| 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... |
84 | 29.0% |
| 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.... |
10 | 5.2% |
| Independent Peronists | 8 | 5.6% |
| Democratic Progressive Party Democratic Progressive Party (Argentina) The Democratic Progressive Party is a provincial political party in Santa Fe, Argentina. It was founded by Lisandro de la Torre at the Savoy Hotel in Buenos Aires on December 14, 1914. One of its founders was the academic Dr... |
3 | 0.9% |
| MODIN | 3 | 3.5% |
| Socialist Unity Alliance | 3 | 1.6% |
| 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... |
2 | 3.5% |
| 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... |
2 | 0.1% |
| Republican Force Republican Force Tucumán The Republican Force Tucumán is a provincial conservative political party in Tucumán Province, Argentina.The party was set up by Antonio Domingo Bussi, who was Tucumán's Governor during the eary years of the 1976-83 dictatorship, and was found guilty of murder, kidnapping, and corruption... (Tucumán Province Tucumán Province Tucumán is the most densely populated, and the smallest by land area, of the provinces of Argentina. Located in the northwest of the country, the capital is San Miguel de Tucumán, often shortened to Tucumán. Neighboring provinces are, clockwise from the north: Salta, Santiago del Estero and... ) |
4 | 1.8% |
| 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:... ) |
3 | 1.1% |
| Salta Salta Province Salta is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the east clockwise Formosa, Chaco, Santiago del Estero, Tucumán and Catamarca. It also surrounds Jujuy... Renewal Party |
3 | 1.2% |
| Other regional parties | 9 | 2.5% |
| Others | 7 | 3.8% |
| Invalid votes | 5.8% | |
| Total seats | 257 |
Background
Amid sudden hyperinflation and riots1989 riots in Argentina
The 1989 food riots were a series of riots and related episodes of looting in stores and supermarkets in Argentina, during the last part of the presidency of Raúl Alfonsín, between May and June 1989...
, Governor Carlos Menem
Carlos Menem
Carlos Saúl Menem is an Argentine politician who was President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. He is currently an Argentine National Senator for La Rioja Province.-Early life:...
exhorted voters in May 1989 that "following me will not disappoint you!" Elected in a landslide, his administration had a rocky start marked by an early stabilization plan that had failed by December and a series of corruption scandals surrounding his freewheeling in-laws. After a tentative stability had been achieved by the end of 1990, a new currency crisis
Currency crisis
A currency crisis, which is also called a balance-of-payments crisis, is a sudden devaluation of a currency caused by chronic balance-of-payments deficits which usually ends in a speculative attack in the foreign exchange market. It occurs when the value of a currency changes quickly, undermining...
in January 1991 led President Menem to transfer his Foreign Minister
Foreign relations of Argentina
This article deals with the diplomatic affairs, foreign policy and international relations of Argentina.At the political level, these matters are officially handled by the Ministry of Foreign Relations, also known as the Cancillería, which answers to the President...
, 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...
, to the Economics Ministry. Cavallo, an unorthodox economist remembered for having rescinded the Central Bank's hated Circular 1050 and its crushing interest rate surcharges during a stint as Central Bank President in 1982, was entrusted to bring stability to Argentina's shredded currency
Historical exchange rates of Argentine currency
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 austral
Argentine austral
The austral was the currency of Argentina between June 15, 1985 and December 31, 1991. It was subdivided into 100 centavos. The symbol was an uppercase A with an extra horizontal line . This symbol appeared on all coins issued in this currency , to distinguish them from earlier currencies...
, and to begin the repair of Argentina's nearly non-existent relations with its foreign creditors (owed arrears on billions of debt since 1988) and the country's own sizable upper class (who held well over US$50 billion in assets abroad).
Foreign direct investment
Foreign direct investment or foreign investment refers to the net inflows of investment to acquire a lasting management interest in an enterprise operating in an economy other than that of the investor.. It is the sum of equity capital,other long-term capital, and short-term capital as shown in...
, Cavallo's Convertibility Plan
Argentine Currency Board
The Argentine Currency Board pegged the Argentine peso to the U.S. dollar between 1991 and 2002 in an attempt to eliminate hyperinflation and stimulate economic growth. While it initially met with considerable success, the board's actions ultimately failed. In contrast of what most people think,...
tied the Argentine currency to the U.S. dollar, leading a sharp drop in local interest rates and to a recovery in local deposits, lending and the depressed economy soon after the plan's March 27, 1991 introduction. Currency stability led particularly to lower inflation, which fell from 1,350% in 1990 to 84% in 1991; prices rose 1.3% in the month of August (the best showing since 1974) and the hitherto unpopular Menem saw his approval soar. Menem's turn against time-honored 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...
tenets such as the support of labor laws and the encouragement of State enterprises (policies defined in the 1940s by the party's very founder, 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...
), led some in his party to run on splinter Peronist tickets, which did well - but came far from seriously challenging the official party ticket.
Menem's contentious divorce from his wife of 25 years, Zulema Yoma
Zulema Yoma
Zulema Fátima Yoma is a former First Lady of Argentina.A native of Nonogasta in La Rioja Province, Fatima Yoma was married for twenty-five years to Carlos Saúl Menem who served as President of Argentina from July 1989 to December 1999...
, reports of massive corruption surrounding his in-laws and the resignation under indictment of his Public Works Minister and privatization
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
s guru, Roberto Dromi, could not overshadow the improving economic climate among the electorate at large. 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...
's victory in the 1991 mid-term elections was not so much absolute as it was relative: the party made no inroads into their large majorities in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies
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....
or among the nation's governors; indeed, they lost 3 of their 17 governors elected in 1987. They did, however, increase their difference over the 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...
, whose leader, former President 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...
, resigned amid scorn over the shadow his chaotic 1983-89 tenure seemed to cast over these polls. The UCR, in two upsets, wrested governorships in Catamarca
Catamarca Province
Catamarca is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. The province has a population of 334,568 as per the , and covers an area of 102,602 km². Its literacy rate is 95.5%. Neighbouring provinces are : Salta, Tucumán, Santiago del Estero, Córdoba, and La Rioja...
and Chubut Province
Chubut Province
Chubut a province in the southern part of Argentina situated between the 42nd parallel south and the 46th parallel south , the Andes range separating Argentina from Chile, and the Atlantic ocean...
s, however. The paramount 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...
gave Vice-President Eduardo Duhalde
Eduardo Duhalde
-External links:...
a 2-to-1 victory over the UCR's gray eminence, former Economy Minister Juan Carlos Pugliese; in the Greater Buenos Aires
Greater Buenos Aires
Greater Buenos Aires is the generic denomination to refer to the megalopolis comprising the autonomous city of Buenos Aires and the conurbation around it, over the province of Buenos Aires—namely the adjacent 24 partidos or municipalities—which nonetheless do not constitute a single administrative...
area, on the other hand, one-time mutineer Col. Aldo Rico
Aldo Rico
Aldo Rico is an Argentine military man and politician, famous for his role in the episodes of 1987 and 1988 where sectors of the Armed Forces, known as carapintadas , revolted to protest the policies of...
was able to translate voters' anger in the over rising illegal immigration and crime rates into an unexpected 3 seats in Congress for his far-right MODIN. These elections helped consolidate the scandal-plagued Menem's tenuous grasp on the presidency, making them (in his words) "the day Menemism was born."