Argentine presidential election, 1928
Encyclopedia
The Argentine general election of 1928 was held on 1 April. With a turnout of 80.9%, it produced the following official results:
a) Parties nominating the Leopoldo Melo
-Vicente Gallo
ticket. b) Abstentions.
Argentine Chamber of Deputies
Argentine Senate
(*): Barred by the Senate for political reasons; seats vacant until 1931.
's differences with his successor and erstwhile ally, Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear
, persuaded him to campaign for the presidency again. Doing so meant overcoming a host of obstacles, however: his "Antipersonalist" opposition within the UCR, though divided, eroded his allies' majority in Congress from 91 seats (out of 158) to 72 in 1924 and 60 in 1926, and he himself was 76 and in declining health.
These developments encouraged not only the Antipersonalists, but also conservatives, who united behind Julio A. Roca's Rightist Confederation. The Governor of the important Córdoba Province
, Roca was the son of General Julio Roca, who had dominated the country politically between 1880 and 1906 and, in the minds of their supporters, recalled a certain nostagia for the pastoral Argentina of the time. President Alvear's Antipersonalist UCR nominated the leader of the 1924 dissension that created the movement, Senator Leopoldo Melo
. Melo underscored the conservative bent of his campaign by naming Senator Vicente Gallo
as his running mate; Gallo was a founding member of the paramilitary Argentine Patriotic League
, and had resigned as President Alvear's Internal Affairs Minister after unsuccessfully lobbying to have a pro-Yrigoyen governor removed.
The Socialists, who vied for the majority in the Buenos Aires City Legislature (but had little following elsewhere), themselves balked at the possibility of victory in 1928 and split during their 1927 convention over Senator Juan B. Justo
's intransigent leadership of the party. Senator Justo died suddenly in January 1928, and the party presented two tickets: the Authentic Socialists, led by Congressman Mario Bravo
and running only in the City of Buenos Aires, and the more conservative Independent Socialists, led Justo's running-mate, former University of La Plata Director José Nicolás Matienzo
.
Election night was perhaps a referendum on the charismatic Yrigoyen, as well as on the largely positive memories voters had of 1916—22 term. Yrigoyen had further built on this sentiment by focusing debate in the closing days of the campaign on the future of YPF, thereby presenting himself as its best defense against the oil concern's chief antagonist, Standard Oil
. His ticket swept the polls, recovering the majority it enjoyed in the Lower House in the early 1920s (with 53 of 79 seats at stake), and winning 5 of 10 contested Senate seats. His faction won majorities in all major districts: the City of Buenos Aires, and in Buenos Aires
, Córdoba
and Santa Fe Province
s (the latter two had been in opposition hands since 1920 and 1918, respectively). Mendoza Province
, which remained in the reformist former Governor Carlos Washington Lencinas
' Dissident UCR column, continued to be denied its two Senators by the body, itself.
Bravo's Authentic Socialists lost to Matienzo's splinter ticket (though only an endorsement by San Juan Governor Federico Cantoni gave the latter 3 electoral votes). Roca's Unified Front, which lost in their home province of Córdoba, had endorsed the Antipersonalist UCR Melo-Gallo ticket, and pledged their 20 electors
to the latter in a symbolic alliance. Minor and provincial parties, for their part, opted instead to abstain from casting most of their combined 84 electoral votes, thereby creating the largest such deficit in the history of the Argentine Electoral College (which was abolished in 1994). Yrigoyen's running mate, Francisco Beiró, died before taking office, and Córdoba Governor Enrique Martínez
was named to the post by the electoral college.
Yrigoyen, whose inaugural was attended by Herbert Hoover
, was sworn in on October 12, 1928. Both men shared a laconic personality, as well as auspicious beginnings to presidencies that would soon, however, enter a similarly difficult breach.
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... (UCR) |
839,140 | 61.7% | 245 |
| Antipersonalist UCR a | 155,371 | 11.4% | 71 |
| Unified Front a | 89,249 | 6.4% | |
| Conservative a | 73,048 | 5.4% | |
| Socialist Party | 65,660 | 4.5% | |
| Unified UCR a (Santa Fe Province Santa Fe Province The Invincible Province of Santa Fe, in Spanish Provincia Invencible de Santa Fe , is a province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco , Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Santiago del Estero... ) |
47,412 | 3.5% | |
| Independent Socialist Party | 6,001 | 0.4% | 3 |
| Others | 84,468 | 6.2% | |
| Positive votes | 1,360,349 | 93.1% | 319 |
| blank or nullified votes | 101,256 | 6.9% | 57 b |
| Total votes | 1,461,605 | 100.0% | 376 |
Leopoldo Melo
Leopoldo Melo was an Argentine lawyer, diplomat and politician. He was a leading figure in the Radical Civic Union, a nominee for President, and later Minister of Internal Affairs.-Biography:...
-Vicente Gallo
Vicente Gallo
Vicente Gallo was an Argentine lawyer, academic and politician of the Radical Civic Union.-Life:Born in San Miguel de Tucumán, Gallo joined the Radical Civic Union from its inception, forming part of a group of young people who worked with Hipólito Yrigoyen in the mid-1890s to secure universal...
ticket. b) Abstentions.
Argentine Chamber of DeputiesArgentine Chamber of DeputiesThe 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....
| Party/Electoral Alliance | Seats | Change | % of votes |
|---|---|---|---|
| UCR | 92 | 32 | 61.7% |
| Conservative | 14 | 1 | 5.4% |
| Unified UCR (Santa Fe Province) |
9 | 7 | 3.5% |
| Independent Socialist | 6 | 6 | 4.8% |
| Liberal/Autonomist (Corrientes Province) |
6 | 1 | 2.0% |
| Antipersonalist UCR | 5 | 2 | 9.9% |
| Authentic Socialist (Buenos Aires) |
4 | 15 | ~ |
| Lencinist Carlos Washington Lencinas Carlos Washington Lencinas was an Argentine politician.-Life and times:Carlos Washington Lencinas was born in Rivadavia Department, Mendoza, in 1888, to Fidela Peacock and José Néstor Lencinas. The elder Lencinas was a Mendoza Province lawmaker known for his tempestuous political rights advocacy... UCR |
2 | = | 1.5% |
| UCR Bloc (San Juan Province) |
1 | 1 | 1.2% |
| Unified Front | 1 | 1 | 6.4% |
| Others | 18 | 3.6% | |
| Invalid votes | 6.9% | ||
| Total | 158 | 100.0% |
Argentine SenateArgentine SenateThe 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...
| Party/Electoral Alliance | New Seats | Total |
|---|---|---|
| UCR | 5 | 8 |
| Antipersonalist UCR | 1 | 8 |
| Provincial Union (Salta Province 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... ) |
0 | 2 |
| Socialist | 0 | 1 |
| Liberal Party of San Luis San Luis Province San Luis is a province of Argentina located near the geographical center of the country . Neighboring provinces are, from the north clockwise, La Rioja, Córdoba, La Pampa, Mendoza and San Juan.-History:... |
0 | 2 |
| Liberal Party of Corrientes | 2 | 2 |
| Autonomist Party of Corrientes | 0 | 1 |
| Democratic Party (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... ) |
0 | 1 |
| Popular Concentration (Santiago del Estero Province Santiago del Estero Province Santiago del Estero is a province of Argentina, located in the north of the country. Neighbouring provinces are from the north clockwise Salta, Chaco, Santa Fe, Córdoba, Catamarca and Tucumán.-History:... ) |
0 | 1 |
| Liberal Party of Tucumán Tucumán San Miguel de Tucumán is the capital of the Tucumán Province, located in northern Argentina at from Buenos Aires. It is the fifth biggest city of Argentina after Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Rosario and Mendoza, and it is also the most important city of Northern Argentina... |
0 | 1 |
| Seats left vacant | 4 * | |
| Total | 10 | 30 |
(*): Barred by the Senate for political reasons; seats vacant until 1931.
Background
Former President Hipólito YrigoyenHipólito Yrigoyen
Juan Hipólito del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Irigoyen Alem was twice President of Argentina . His activism became the prime impetus behind the obtainment of universal suffrage in Argentina in 1912...
's differences with his successor and erstwhile ally, Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear
Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear
Máximo Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear Pacheco , better known as Marcelo T. de Alvear was an Argentine politician and President of Argentina from October 12, 1922 to October 12, 1928.-Biography:...
, persuaded him to campaign for the presidency again. Doing so meant overcoming a host of obstacles, however: his "Antipersonalist" opposition within the UCR, though divided, eroded his allies' majority in Congress from 91 seats (out of 158) to 72 in 1924 and 60 in 1926, and he himself was 76 and in declining health.
These developments encouraged not only the Antipersonalists, but also conservatives, who united behind Julio A. Roca's Rightist Confederation. The Governor of the important 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...
, Roca was the son of General Julio Roca, who had dominated the country politically between 1880 and 1906 and, in the minds of their supporters, recalled a certain nostagia for the pastoral Argentina of the time. President Alvear's Antipersonalist UCR nominated the leader of the 1924 dissension that created the movement, Senator Leopoldo Melo
Leopoldo Melo
Leopoldo Melo was an Argentine lawyer, diplomat and politician. He was a leading figure in the Radical Civic Union, a nominee for President, and later Minister of Internal Affairs.-Biography:...
. Melo underscored the conservative bent of his campaign by naming Senator Vicente Gallo
Vicente Gallo
Vicente Gallo was an Argentine lawyer, academic and politician of the Radical Civic Union.-Life:Born in San Miguel de Tucumán, Gallo joined the Radical Civic Union from its inception, forming part of a group of young people who worked with Hipólito Yrigoyen in the mid-1890s to secure universal...
as his running mate; Gallo was a founding member of the paramilitary Argentine Patriotic League
Argentine Patriotic League
The Argentine Patriotic League was a Nacionalista paramilitary group, officially created in Buenos Aires on January 16, 1919, during the Tragic week events. Presided over by Manuel Carlés, a professor at the Military College and the Escuela Superior de Guerra, it also counted among its members the...
, and had resigned as President Alvear's Internal Affairs Minister after unsuccessfully lobbying to have a pro-Yrigoyen governor removed.
The Socialists, who vied for the majority in the Buenos Aires City Legislature (but had little following elsewhere), themselves balked at the possibility of victory in 1928 and split during their 1927 convention over Senator Juan B. Justo
Juan B. Justo
Juan Bautista Justo was an Argentine physician, journalist, politician, and writer. After finishing medical school he joined the Unión Cívica Radical, later participating in the foundation of the Socialist Party in 1896, of which he was chief director until his death...
's intransigent leadership of the party. Senator Justo died suddenly in January 1928, and the party presented two tickets: the Authentic Socialists, led by Congressman Mario Bravo
Mario Bravo
Mario Bravo was an Argentine politician and writer.-Life and times:Born in La Cocha, Tucumán Province, in 1882, Bravo enrolled at the University of Buenos Aires, and earned a Law Degree in 1905 after submitting his thesis on labor legislation...
and running only in the City of Buenos Aires, and the more conservative Independent Socialists, led Justo's running-mate, former University of La Plata Director José Nicolás Matienzo
José Nicolás Matienzo
José Nicolás Matienzo was a prominent Argentine lawyer, writer, academic and policy maker.-Life and times:José Nicolás Matienzo was born in San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina, in 1860. He enrolled at the University of Buenos Aires Law School, where he was mentored by Professor José Manuel Estrada,...
.
Election night was perhaps a referendum on the charismatic Yrigoyen, as well as on the largely positive memories voters had of 1916—22 term. Yrigoyen had further built on this sentiment by focusing debate in the closing days of the campaign on the future of YPF, thereby presenting himself as its best defense against the oil concern's chief antagonist, Standard Oil
Standard Oil
Standard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...
. His ticket swept the polls, recovering the majority it enjoyed in the Lower House in the early 1920s (with 53 of 79 seats at stake), and winning 5 of 10 contested Senate seats. His faction won majorities in all major districts: the City of Buenos Aires, and in Buenos Aires
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...
, Córdoba
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...
and Santa Fe Province
Santa Fe Province
The Invincible Province of Santa Fe, in Spanish Provincia Invencible de Santa Fe , is a province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco , Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Santiago del Estero...
s (the latter two had been in opposition hands since 1920 and 1918, respectively). Mendoza Province
Mendoza Province
The Province of Mendoza is a province of Argentina, located in the western central part of the country in the Cuyo region. It borders to the north with San Juan, the south with La Pampa and Neuquén, the east with San Luis, and to the west with the republic of Chile; the international limit is...
, which remained in the reformist former Governor Carlos Washington Lencinas
Carlos Washington Lencinas
Carlos Washington Lencinas was an Argentine politician.-Life and times:Carlos Washington Lencinas was born in Rivadavia Department, Mendoza, in 1888, to Fidela Peacock and José Néstor Lencinas. The elder Lencinas was a Mendoza Province lawmaker known for his tempestuous political rights advocacy...
' Dissident UCR column, continued to be denied its two Senators by the body, itself.
Bravo's Authentic Socialists lost to Matienzo's splinter ticket (though only an endorsement by San Juan Governor Federico Cantoni gave the latter 3 electoral votes). Roca's Unified Front, which lost in their home province of Córdoba, had endorsed the Antipersonalist UCR Melo-Gallo ticket, and pledged their 20 electors
Electoral college
An electoral college is a set of electors who are selected to elect a candidate to a particular office. Often these represent different organizations or entities, with each organization or entity represented by a particular number of electors or with votes weighted in a particular way...
to the latter in a symbolic alliance. Minor and provincial parties, for their part, opted instead to abstain from casting most of their combined 84 electoral votes, thereby creating the largest such deficit in the history of the Argentine Electoral College (which was abolished in 1994). Yrigoyen's running mate, Francisco Beiró, died before taking office, and Córdoba Governor Enrique Martínez
Enrique Martínez
Enrique Martínez was an Argentine lawyer and politician, governor of Córdoba Province Argentine Vice President during the second Hipólito Yrigoyen administration.-Biography:...
was named to the post by the electoral college.
Yrigoyen, whose inaugural was attended by Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
, was sworn in on October 12, 1928. Both men shared a laconic personality, as well as auspicious beginnings to presidencies that would soon, however, enter a similarly difficult breach.
Candidates
- Radical Civic Union (populist): Former President Hipólito YrigoyenHipólito YrigoyenJuan Hipólito del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Irigoyen Alem was twice President of Argentina . His activism became the prime impetus behind the obtainment of universal suffrage in Argentina in 1912...
of the city of Buenos AiresBuenos AiresBuenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent... - Antipersonalist Radical Civic Union/United Front (center-right): Senator Leopoldo MeloLeopoldo MeloLeopoldo Melo was an Argentine lawyer, diplomat and politician. He was a leading figure in the Radical Civic Union, a nominee for President, and later Minister of Internal Affairs.-Biography:...
of Entre Ríos ProvinceEntre Ríos ProvinceEntre Ríos is a northeastern province of Argentina, located in the Mesopotamia region. It borders the provinces of Buenos Aires , Corrientes and Santa Fe , and Uruguay in the east.... - Socialist Party: Senator Mario BravoMario BravoMario Bravo was an Argentine politician and writer.-Life and times:Born in La Cocha, Tucumán Province, in 1882, Bravo enrolled at the University of Buenos Aires, and earned a Law Degree in 1905 after submitting his thesis on labor legislation...
of Tucumán ProvinceTucumán ProvinceTucumán 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... - Independent Socialist Party: Former Minister of Labor José Nicolás MatienzoJosé Nicolás MatienzoJosé Nicolás Matienzo was a prominent Argentine lawyer, writer, academic and policy maker.-Life and times:José Nicolás Matienzo was born in San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina, in 1860. He enrolled at the University of Buenos Aires Law School, where he was mentored by Professor José Manuel Estrada,...
of Buenos Aires ProvinceBuenos Aires ProvinceThe 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...