1958 Argentine general election

1958 Argentine general election
	Presidential election
466 members of the Electoral College; 234 votes needed to win
Registered	10,002,327
Turnout	90.60%
	Most voted party by province.
President before election; Pedro Eugenio Aramburu;	Elected President ; Arturo Frondizi; UCRI
	Legislative election
	187 seats in the Chamber of Deputies; 94 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	90.86%
Chamber of Deputies
	Results by province

The Argentine general election of 1958 was held on 23 February. Voters chose both the President and their legislators and with a turnout of 90.6% (the highest in Argentine electoral history).

Background

The year 1955 cast a long shadow over these elections. President Juan Perón was violently overthrown in September of that year and the succeeding junta banned the Peronist Party and even the possession of Peronist mementoes or the very mention of the former leader or of the late Eva Perón. The junta did, however, convene a Civilian Advisory Board which, to the dismay of many conservatives, recommended against draconian measures or the reversal of most of Perón's reforms. They also called for a referendum ratifying the 1853 Constitution (which Perón had it heavily amended in 1949), while retaining Perón's Article 15, a section devoted to social reforms; the junta's leader, Gen. Pedro Aramburu, backed the panel's findings. An attempted countercoup against the junta, defeated on June 10, led to the execution of 27 plotters (including numerous civilians) and derailed Aramburu's hopes for the creation of a viable political alternative to the populist leader.

Businessman Rogelio Julio Frigerio, who secured Perón's endorsement of Frondizi in 1956, thus determining the outcome of the elections.

Seizing the opportunity, the Radical Civic Union (UCR)'s 1951 vice-presidential nominee, Arturo Frondizi secretly secured an agreement with the exiled Perón, by which the banned Peronists would be given a voice in exchange for their support. The pact, a mere rumor at the time, created a rift within the UCR at their party convention in November 1956, forcing Frondizi and his supporters to run on a splinter ("Intransigent") ticket and leaving more anti-Peronist UCR voters with Ricardo Balbín, the party's 1951 standard bearer. The two wings presented different candidates for the constituent assembly election called for July 28, 1957, with no clear winner, though the deadlocked assembly did ratify the Advisory Board's proposed constitutional changes.

Unmentionable by law, Perón became the central issue of the 1958 campaign. Argentina was abuzz with the staccato sounds of El-qué-te-dije (roughly translated to "You know who"), as he opposed Balbín, who accepted Pres. Aramburu's endorsement as the candidate of the ruling junta. Balbin, and his Radical Civic Union of the People, was dealt a "February surprise" when, four days before the election, the exiled leader publicly announced his endorsement of Frondizi. Blank votes (Peronist voters' choice during the assembly elections of 1957, which they narrowly "won") became Frondizi votes, making him the winner of the 1958 elections in Argentina.^[1]

Candidates

Intransigent Radical Civic Union (progressive): Former Deputy Arturo Frondizi of Corrientes Province
Popular Radical Civic Union (centrist): Former Deputy Ricardo Balbín of Buenos Aires Province
Christian Democratic Party (progressive): Lucas Ayarragaray
Socialist Party: Former Senator Alfredo Palacios of the city of Buenos Aires

Frondizi
Balbín (left)
Palacios

Results

President

Presidential candidate	Vice Presidential candidate	Party		Popular vote		Electoral vote
Presidential candidate	Vice Presidential candidate	Party		Votes	%	Votes	%
Arturo Frondizi	Alejandro Gómez		Intransigent Radical Civic Union	4,070,398	49.49	319	68.45
Ricardo Balbín	Santiago del Castillo		People's Radical Civic Union	2,617,693	31.83	140	30.04
Lucas Ayarragaray Jr.	Horacio Sueldo		Christian Democratic Party	285,650	3.47
Alfredo Palacios	Carlos Sánchez Viamonte		Socialist Party	264,721	3.22
Héctor González Iramain	Carlos Aguinaga		Democratic Party	145,935	1.77
Reynaldo Pastor	Martín Aberg Cobo		Conservative Democratic People's Party	128,226	1.56
Luciano Molinas	Horacio R, Thedy		Democratic Progressive Party	126,991	1.54
Alejandro Leloir	Juan A, Bramuglia		Popular Union	80,712	0.98
Ernesto Meabe	José Brouchou		Liberal Party of Corrientes	51,092	0.62	5	1.07
Vicente Solano Lima	Alfredo Massi		Conservative People's Party	49,784	0.61
			White Party	40,820	0.50
Juan Bautista Peña	Ana Zaefferer de Goyeneche		Independent Civic Party	39,157	0.48
			Populist Popular Union	32,119	0.39
			Red and White Intransigent Radical Civic Union	31,987	0.39
Juan José Tartara			People's Party	30,957	0.38
			Conservative Party	30,239	0.37
			Traditional Blockist Radical Civic Union	22,371	0.27
			Chaco Alliance	22,338	0.27
			Labour Party	20,358	0.25
			Worker's Party	16,876	0.21
			Liberal Democratic Party	16,611	0.20	2	0.43
Basilio Serrano	Juan de Zan		Federal Union	12,996	0.16
			Provincial Union	10,722	0.13
			People's Workers Party and Social Reconstruction	10,378	0.13
			Conservative Democratic Party	10,328	0.13
			Provincial Defense - White Flag	9,296	0.11
			Populist Party	7,596	0.09
			Renewal abd Intransigent Radical Civic Union	7,581	0.09
Alejandro Gancedo Jr.			Antipersonalist Radical Civic Union	7,141	0.09
			Blockist Radical Civic Union - Conservative People's Party	6,120	0.07
			People's Federal Labour Party	4,427	0.05
			Autonomist Democratic Party	2,700	0.03
			Blue and White Party	2,593	0.03
			Formosa Democratic Party	2,364	0.03
			National Labour Party	2,170	0.03
			Federal Agrarian Labour Party	1,342	0.02
Rafael Claudeville			Renewwal Party	661	0.01
			Social Workers Party	608	0.01
			Liberal Party of Misiones	273	0.00
			Communist Party	42	0.00
Total				8,224,373	100

Positive votes				8,224,373	90.76
Blank votes				814,802	8.99
Invalid votes				22,724	0.25
Total votes				9,061,899	100
Registered voters/turnout				10,002,327	90.60
Sources:^[2]^[3]

Chamber of Deputies

Party		Votes	%	Seats 1958-1960	Seats 1958-1962	Total seats

	Intransigent Radical Civic Union (UCRI)	4,070,398	49.33	66	67	133
	People's Radical Civic Union (UCRP)	2,617,693	31.72	26	26	52
	Christian Democratic Party (PDC)	285,650	3.46	—	—	—
	Socialist Party (PS)	264,721	3.21	—	—	—
	Democratic Party (PD)	145,935	1.77	—	—	—
	Democratic Progressive Party (PDP)	126,991	1.54	—	—	—
	Liberal Party of Corrientes (PLCo)	51,092	0.62	1	1	2
	Others	688,893	8.35	—	—	—
Total		8,251,373	100	93	93	187

Positive votes		8,251,373	90.79
Blank votes		814,400	8.96
Invalid votes		22,724	0.25
Total votes		9,088,497	100
Registered voters/turnout		10,002,327	90.86
Source:^[4]

Provincial Governors

Election of Provincial Governors
Elected positions: 22 provincial governors, 23 legislative bodies Presidential Appointment: Mayor of the City of Buenos Aires and Territorial Governor of Tierra del Fuego
Province	Elected	Party	Map
Buenos Aires	Oscar Alende	Intransigent Radical Civic Union
Catamarca	Juan Manuel Salas	Intransigent Radical Civic Union
Chaco	Anselmo Zoilo Duca	Intransigent Radical Civic Union
Chubut	Jorge Galina	Intransigent Radical Civic Union
Córdoba	Arturo Zanichelli	Intransigent Radical Civic Union
Corrientes	Fernando Piragine Niveyro	Intransigent Radical Civic Union
Entre Ríos	Raúl Lucio Uranga	Intransigent Radical Civic Union
Formosa	Luis Gutnisky	Intransigent Radical Civic Union
Jujuy	Horacio Guzmán	Intransigent Radical Civic Union
1960: La Pampa	Ismael Amit	Intransigent Radical Civic Union
La Rioja	Herminio Torres Brizuela	Intransigent Radical Civic Union
Mendoza	Ernesto Ueltschi	Intransigent Radical Civic Union
1960: Misiones	César Napoleón Ayrault	Intransigent Radical Civic Union
Neuquén	Ángel Edelman	Intransigent Radical Civic Union
Río Negro	Edgardo Castello	Intransigent Radical Civic Union
Salta	Bernardino Biella	Intransigent Radical Civic Union
San Juan	Américo García	Intransigent Radical Civic Union
San Luis	Alberto Domeniconi	Intransigent Radical Civic Union
Santa Cruz	Mario Paradelo	Intransigent Radical Civic Union
Santa Fe	Carlos Sylvestre Begnis	Intransigent Radical Civic Union
Santiago del Estero	Eduardo Miguel	Intransigent Radical Civic Union
Tucumán	Celestino Gelsi	Intransigent Radical Civic Union
Federal Capital (Appointment)	Hernán M. Giralt	Intransigent Radical Civic Union
Tierra del Fuego (Appointment)	Ernesto Manuel Campos	Intransigent Radical Civic Union

Notes

^ Todo Argentina
^ Cantón, Darío (1968). Materiales para el estudio de la sociología política en la Argentina (PDF). Vol. Tomo I. Buenos Aires: Centro de Investigaciones Sociales - Torcuato di Tella Institute. pp. 175–180.
^ Historia Electoral Argentina (1912-2007) (PDF). Ministry of Interior - Subsecretaría de Asuntos Políticos y Electorales. December 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 September 2014.
^ Nohlen, Dieter (2005). Elections in the Americas: A Data Handbook. Vol. II: South America. Nueva York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-928358-3.

[1] Todo Argentina

[2] Cantón, Darío (1968). Materiales para el estudio de la sociología política en la Argentina (PDF). Vol. Tomo I. Buenos Aires: Centro de Investigaciones Sociales - Torcuato di Tella Institute. pp. 175–180.

[3] Historia Electoral Argentina (1912-2007) (PDF). Ministry of Interior - Subsecretaría de Asuntos Políticos y Electorales. December 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 September 2014.

[4] Nohlen, Dieter (2005). Elections in the Americas: A Data Handbook. Vol. II: South America. Nueva York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-928358-3.

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