Argentine presidential election, 1931
Encyclopedia
The Argentine presidential election of 1931 was held on 8 November. With a turnout of 73.4%, it produced the following official results:
aAbstentions.
Argentine Chamber of Deputies
Argentine Senate
, a quiet coup d'état deposed the aging Hipólito Yrigoyen
in September 1930. His country's first leader elected via universal suffrage
(though without the participation of women), Yrigoyen had strained alliances within his own centrist Radical Civic Union
(UCR) through frequent interventions against willful governors and had set business powerhouses such as Standard Oil
against him through his support of YPF, the state oil concern founded in 1922. Staging its first coup since 1861, the Argentine military, then dominated by conservative, rural interests, called on José Félix Uriburu
, a retired general and member of the Supreme War Council, to assume the role of Provisional President. Uriburu, the nephew of former President José Evaristo Uriburu
, had no taste for politics and was in ailing health.
He nevertheless set down an ambitious agenda, entrusting his Interior Minister, Matías Sánchez Sorondo, to replace the 1912 Sáenz Peña Law
(which provided for universal male suffrage and the secret ballot) with one promoting a single, ruling party not unlike the one that kept the landowner-oriented National Autonomist Party (PAN) in power from 1874 to 1916. Aligning themselves beind the relatively moderate National Democratic Party, conservatives were defeated in gubernatorial polls in the paramount Province of Buenos Aires in April 1931. The results not only raised hopes for the centrist, urban-oriented UCR, it also persuaded Uriburu that Sanchez Sorondo's "electoral reform" would not keep conservatives in power, in and of itself.
The UCR turned to Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear
for leadership ahead of the November 1931 elections. The scion of one of Argentina's traditional landed families and President from 1922 to 1928, Alvear's alliance with Yrigoyen soured as he challenged the latter's personality cult (hence his creation of a splinter, "Antipersonalist" UCR). The seasoned Alvear, however, took care to assuage the still-popular Yrigoyen's objections by naming former Salta Province
Governor Adolfo Güemes (a staunch Yrigoyen supporter) as his running mate.
Facing a recovered and nearly-unified UCR, President Uriburu dispensed with his previous pledge to restore constitutional order and annulled the Buenos Aires Province elections. He also promoted the Argentine Civic Legion, an armed fascist organization entrusted to intimidate the opposition. Alvear's establishment of a Renewal Junta helped lead to a violent July 20 clash with Uriburu's forces in Corrientes Province
, which gave the President the pretext for ordering Alvear's deportation, a few days later. Deprived of their candidate, the UCR boycotted the 1931 election, though party committees in a number of provinces participated in the November polls.
The support of UCR Senator Leopoldo Melo
(the leader of the anti-Yrigoyen faction of the party) and Uriburu for retired General Agustín Justo as candidate resulted in the Concordance. This new, conservative alliance heeded Uriburu's sage advice during their nominating convention, sidestepping imposing landowners in favor of Justo, who had been President Alvear's War Minister in the 1920s, They picked former Córdoba
Governor Julio Roca as his running mate; Roca, the son of the late PAN leader, Julio A. Roca, had led the Democratic Party of Córdoba.
The Democratic Progressive Party
(PDP), known for its anti-corruption platform, nominated Senator Lisandro de la Torre
, who also earned the endorsement of the Socialist Party of Argentina, a party in search of leadership following the passing of Juan B. Justo
, in 1928. The alliance alienated conservatives in the PDP, however, who instead endorsed the aging Francisco A. Barroetaveña
, a former Senator who ran on a UCR ticket limited to his Entre Ríos Province
. Barroetaveña, who helped found the UCR in 1890, broke with Yrigoyen during the 1920s and hoped to rally the exiled Alvear's supporters behind him.
Ultimately, voter intimidation and widespread irregularities helped give the National Democratic-led Concordance a sizable victory on election night. The electoral college
, however, which counted the conservatives' ad hoc Lista Única (Unified List) separately, was far more closely divided: 135 for Justo, 124 for de la Torre, and 117 for the numerous UCR tickets who defied Alvear's boycott (including Barroetaveña's). As most of these splinter UCR tickets were led by conservative figures opposed to the muck-raking Senator de la Torre, their pledge of most of their 117 electors handed Justo the Presidency.
| Party/Electoral Alliance | Votes | Percentage | Electoral College |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Democratic Party National Democratic Party (Argentina) The National Democratic Party, or Partido Demócrata Nacional was an Argentine conservative party created in 1931 which disappeared after 1955. It was generally known simply as the Conservative Party, or Partido Conservador... Lista Única Liberal Party of Corrientes 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.... -Antipersonalist 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... alliance |
452,560 126,370 28,835 |
32.2% 9.0% 2.0% |
|
| Concordance Concordancia (Argentina) The Concordancia was a political alliance in Argentina. Three Presidents belonging to the Concordance were in power from 1931 to 1943, a period known in Argentina as the "Infamous Decade."... |
607,765 | 43.2% | 237 |
| Alianza Civíl (Socialist-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... alliance) |
436,125 | 31.0% | 122 |
| 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... (unofficial tickets) |
156,904 | 11.2% | 12 |
| Others | 203,981 | 14.6% | |
| Valid votes | 1,404,775 | 90.4% | 371 |
| blank or nullified votes | 149,662 | 9.6% | 5 a |
| Total votes | 1,554,437 | 100.0% | 376 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Democratic (Concordance) |
58 | 58 | 43.2% |
| Socialist Democratic Progressive Party |
43 14 |
42 11 |
|
| Civil Alliance | 57 | 31.0% | |
| Antipersonalist UCR | 17 | 14 | 4.0% |
| Independent Socialist (pro-Concordance) |
11 | 4 | 6.2% |
| Liberal (Corrientes Province) |
5 | 1 | 1.9% |
| Unified UCR | 4 | = | 1.9% |
| UCR Bloc (San Juan Province) |
2 | = | 1.3% |
| Others | 4 | 10.5% | |
| Invalid votes | 9.7% | ||
| 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 |
|---|---|---|
| National Democratic | 5 | 12 |
| Antipersonalist UCR | 1 | 5 |
| Unified UCR (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 | 2 |
| Socialist | 0 | 2 |
| Autonomist Party of Corrientes | 1 | 2 |
| Popular Party of Jujuy | 1 | 2 |
| UCR Bloc (San Juan Province San Juan Province (Argentina) San Juan is a province of Argentina, located in the western part of the country. Neighbouring provinces are, moving clockwise from the north, La Rioja, San Luis and Mendoza. It borders with Chile at the west.... ) |
1 | 2 |
| Democratic Progressive | 0 | 2 |
| Provincial Defense (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... ) |
1 | 1 |
| Total | 10 | 30 |
Background
Following months of protest triggered in part by the onset of the great depressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, a quiet coup d'état deposed the aging Hipólito Yrigoyen
Hipólito 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...
in September 1930. His country's first leader elected via universal suffrage
Universal suffrage
Universal suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and non-citizens...
(though without the participation of women), Yrigoyen had strained alliances within his own centrist 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) through frequent interventions against willful governors and had set business powerhouses such as 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...
against him through his support of YPF, the state oil concern founded in 1922. Staging its first coup since 1861, the Argentine military, then dominated by conservative, rural interests, called on José Félix Uriburu
José Félix Uriburu
General José Félix Benito Uriburu y Uriburu was the first de facto President of Argentina, achieved through a military coup, from September 6, 1930 to February 20, 1932.-Biography:...
, a retired general and member of the Supreme War Council, to assume the role of Provisional President. Uriburu, the nephew of former President José Evaristo Uriburu
José Evaristo Uriburu
José Evaristo de Uriburu y Álvarez de Arenales was President of Argentina from 23 January 1895 to 12 October 1898....
, had no taste for politics and was in ailing health.
He nevertheless set down an ambitious agenda, entrusting his Interior Minister, Matías Sánchez Sorondo, to replace the 1912 Sáenz Peña Law
Sáenz Peña Law
The Sáenz Peña Law was Law 8871 of Argentina, sanctioned by the National Congress on 10 February 1912, which established the universal, secret and mandatory male suffrage though the creation of an electoral list...
(which provided for universal male suffrage and the secret ballot) with one promoting a single, ruling party not unlike the one that kept the landowner-oriented National Autonomist Party (PAN) in power from 1874 to 1916. Aligning themselves beind the relatively moderate National Democratic Party, conservatives were defeated in gubernatorial polls in the paramount Province of Buenos Aires in April 1931. The results not only raised hopes for the centrist, urban-oriented UCR, it also persuaded Uriburu that Sanchez Sorondo's "electoral reform" would not keep conservatives in power, in and of itself.
The UCR turned to 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:...
for leadership ahead of the November 1931 elections. The scion of one of Argentina's traditional landed families and President from 1922 to 1928, Alvear's alliance with Yrigoyen soured as he challenged the latter's personality cult (hence his creation of a splinter, "Antipersonalist" UCR). The seasoned Alvear, however, took care to assuage the still-popular Yrigoyen's objections by naming former 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...
Governor Adolfo Güemes (a staunch Yrigoyen supporter) as his running mate.
Facing a recovered and nearly-unified UCR, President Uriburu dispensed with his previous pledge to restore constitutional order and annulled the Buenos Aires Province elections. He also promoted the Argentine Civic Legion, an armed fascist organization entrusted to intimidate the opposition. Alvear's establishment of a Renewal Junta helped lead to a violent July 20 clash with Uriburu's forces in 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:...
, which gave the President the pretext for ordering Alvear's deportation, a few days later. Deprived of their candidate, the UCR boycotted the 1931 election, though party committees in a number of provinces participated in the November polls.
The support of UCR 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:...
(the leader of the anti-Yrigoyen faction of the party) and Uriburu for retired General Agustín Justo as candidate resulted in the Concordance. This new, conservative alliance heeded Uriburu's sage advice during their nominating convention, sidestepping imposing landowners in favor of Justo, who had been President Alvear's War Minister in the 1920s, They picked former 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...
Governor Julio Roca as his running mate; Roca, the son of the late PAN leader, Julio A. Roca, had led the Democratic Party of Córdoba.
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...
(PDP), known for its anti-corruption platform, nominated Senator Lisandro de la Torre
Lisandro de la Torre
Lisandro de la Torre was an Argentine politician, born in Rosario, province of Santa Fe.De la Torre became a lawyer in 1890. His thesis about municipalities and communes, as well as other works of his, gave rise to the idea of municipal autonomy in Argentina, which was included in the Argentine...
, who also earned the endorsement of the Socialist Party of Argentina, a party in search of leadership following the passing of 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...
, in 1928. The alliance alienated conservatives in the PDP, however, who instead endorsed the aging Francisco A. Barroetaveña
Francisco A. Barroetaveña
Francisco Antonio Barroetaveña was an Argentine lawyer and politician, founder of the Civic Youth Union, the Civic Union, and co-founder of the Radical Civic Union.-Biography:...
, a former Senator who ran on a UCR ticket limited to his Entre Ríos Province
Entre Ríos Province
Entre 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....
. Barroetaveña, who helped found the UCR in 1890, broke with Yrigoyen during the 1920s and hoped to rally the exiled Alvear's supporters behind him.
Ultimately, voter intimidation and widespread irregularities helped give the National Democratic-led Concordance a sizable victory on election night. The electoral college
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...
, however, which counted the conservatives' ad hoc Lista Única (Unified List) separately, was far more closely divided: 135 for Justo, 124 for de la Torre, and 117 for the numerous UCR tickets who defied Alvear's boycott (including Barroetaveña's). As most of these splinter UCR tickets were led by conservative figures opposed to the muck-raking Senator de la Torre, their pledge of most of their 117 electors handed Justo the Presidency.
Candidates
- Concordance (conservative): General Agustín Justo 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-Democratic Progressive alliance (reformist): Former Deputy Lisandro de la TorreLisandro de la TorreLisandro de la Torre was an Argentine politician, born in Rosario, province of Santa Fe.De la Torre became a lawyer in 1890. His thesis about municipalities and communes, as well as other works of his, gave rise to the idea of municipal autonomy in Argentina, which was included in the Argentine...
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... - Radical Civic Union (unofficial, center-right ticket): Former Deputy Francisco A. BarroetaveñaFrancisco A. BarroetaveñaFrancisco Antonio Barroetaveña was an Argentine lawyer and politician, founder of the Civic Youth Union, the Civic Union, and co-founder of the Radical Civic Union.-Biography:...
of the Entre Ríos Province