1963 Argentine general election

The Argentine general election of 1963 was held on 7 July. Voters chose both the President and their legislators; with a turnout of 85.6%, resulting in the election of Arturo Illia as President of Argentina.

1963 Argentine general election

Presidential election
← 1958 7 July 1963 March 1973 →

476 members of the Electoral College
239 votes needed to win
Registered11,356,240
Turnout85.50%
 
Nominee Arturo Illia Oscar Alende Pedro Aramburu
Party UCRP UCRI UDELPA
Alliance UDELPA - PDP
Running mate Carlos Perette Celestino Gelsi Arturo Etchevehere/
Horacio Thedy
Electoral vote 171 107 73
States carried 11 + CF 4 1
Popular vote 2,441,064 1,593,002 1,362,596
Percentage 31.90% 20.82% 17.81%

 
Nominee Emilio Olmos Jr. Horacio Sueldo [es] none
Party FNPC PDC MPN
Running mate Emilio Jofré [es] Francisco Eduardo Cerro [es] none
Electoral vote 32 23 6
States carried 3 0 1
Popular vote 511,779 434,823 20,648
Percentage 6.69% 5.68% 0.27%

 
Nominee none none
Party MFD UCRB
Running mate none none
Electoral vote 5 4
States carried 1 1
Popular vote 42,116 46,088
Percentage 0.55% 0.60%

Most voted candidate by province.

President before election

José María Guido
UCRI

Elected President

Arturo Illia
UCRP

Legislative election
← 1962 7 July 1963 1965 →

192 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
Turnout85.60%
Party Vote % Seats
Chamber of Deputies
People's Radical Civic Union

30.68% 72
Intransigent Radical Civic Union

19.55% 40
Union of the Argentine People

8.32% 13
Democratic Progressive Party

7.05% 12
National Federation of Center Parties

5.69% 9
Christian Democratic Party

5.54% 8
Argentine Socialist Party

3.89% 6
Democratic Socialist Party

3.89% 5
Popular Union

2.45% 5
Others

12.94% 22
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Results by province

Background

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The spectre of military intervention so much in evidence after the election of Arturo Frondizi in 1958 became reality following his coerced resignation on March 29, 1962. His UCRI candidates had done well; but the evening's big surprise, Andrés Framini's election as Governor of Buenos Aires Province (one of ten Peronists to win gubernatorial polls that night), proved unacceptable to the armed forces.[1] An array of political leaders had been lobbying the military against Frondizi, as well: centrist UCRP leader Ricardo Balbín (whom Frondizi defeated on a splinter ticket in 1958) and conservative economist Álvaro Alsogaray (whom Frondizi sidestepped in favor of pro-industry economist Rogelio Julio Frigerio) both openly celebrated the president's unceremonious exit.[2]

 
A military adjutant watches over interim President Guido, an unwitting metaphor as Army factions wrestled for control of his puppet regime.

The matter of Frondizi's successor, itself, became a subject of contention within the armed forces. The two opposing camps defined themselves as either "Blues" ((in Spanish) Azules, at pains to maintain a patina of legality over the destabilizing intervention) or "Reds" ((in Spanish) Colorados, lacking any compunction against imposing a prolonged and repressive dictatorship). The stalemate lasted merely a day because most of the Army High Command were "Blues," whose preference of a "legal" solution to the vacuum was supported by most of the press and the Argentine public,[2] then enjoying Latin America's widest access to the media.[3] Relying on constitutional guidelines, they named the reluctant Senate President José María Guido Head of State.[2]

Guido, a moderate senator from then-remote Río Negro Province, had been elected on Frondizi's 's UCRI ticket. His prompt resignation from the UCRI and annulment of the March 18 mid-term elections did not immediately dispel the threat of a coup attempt, however, and mutinies in April and August resulted in the appointment of Army General Juan Carlos Onganía (who successfully rebelled against his "Red" superiors) as Head of the Military Joint Chiefs. The more stable military panorama was overshadowed by economic worries.[2] Following a brief period of robust growth led by industrial production, President Guido's economic team, led by Alsogaray, imposed a fresh devaluation and austerity measures such as strict credit controls and even the payment of state salaries with nearly-worthless bonds. GDP fell by 4% in 1962-63 and unemployment rose to nearly 9%.[4]

The Radical Civic Union (UCR) was again divided between the Intransigent (UCRI) and more conservative Popular (UCRP) factions as they convened in March 1963. The UCRP nominated former Córdoba Province Vice-Governor Arturo Illia, a country doctor fondly remembered for his work in the Public Health Committee in Congress; Balbín, who still led the UCRP, opted out of the nomination at the party's March 10 convention believing that a less anti-Peronist choice would give the UCRP a critical advantage over the rival UCRI.[2]

The UCRI, as they had done in 1958, initially hoped to secure the exiled Juan Perón's endorsement who, from Madrid, still directly controlled a fifth of the Argentine electorate. Permitted to field local and Lower House candidates (but still banned from either the Senate or the Presidency) Peronist voters, like in 1962, rallied behind the UP and six other parties. Their intention to run in the less-than-free elections was itself in defiance of Perón, however, who refused to endorse "neo-Peronist" candidates and instead called for blank ballots. Alejandro Leloir, who had fallen out with fellow neo-Peronists as well as Perón, ran for President independently on the Three Flags ticket; named for the "three Peronist flags" of sovereignty, independence, and social justice, this became the only Peronist ticket allowed on the presidential ballot in 1963.[5]

Against opposition from former Buenos Aires Governor Oscar Alende, Frondizi and Perón initially agreed on a "National Popular Front," fielding a respected, moderately conservative publisher as the nominee, Vicente Solano Lima. Tricked by a similar move in 1958, the military objected, however, leading to the brutal 1963 Argentine Navy Revolt on April 2, which cost 24 lives and effectively scuttled the Perón-Frondizi front. These incidents led former President Pedro Aramburu run on his UDELPA ticket, thus hoping to provide those most likely to support a military coup a suitable, center-right choice instead. He was also endorsed by the more moderate Democratic Progressive Party, whose leader, Horacio Thedy, ran as Aramburu's running mate; making fears of Perón's return his battle horse, Aramburu's slogan was unequivocal: Vote UDELPA...and HE won't return! [2] Other anti-Peronist conservatives supported former Córdoba Mayor Emilio Olmos and the FNPC.[6]

Hamstrung by Frondizi's open enmity against Alende for the latter's rejection of the ultimately aborted Front, as well as Perón's call for blank ballots, Alende's UCRI was defeated in an upset by Dr. Arturo Illia and the UCRP.[4]

The renewed ban on the participation of Peronist candidates resulted in the highest percentage of blank votes in Argentine electoral history;[4] Leloir's Three Flags ticket received 4 electoral votes.[7]

Candidates for President

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Results

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President

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Presidential
candidate
Vice Presidential
candidate
Party Popular vote Electoral vote
Votes % Votes %
Arturo Umberto Illia Carlos Humberto Perette People's Radical Civic Union (UCRP) 2,441,064 31.90 171 35.92
Oscar Alende Celestino Gelsi Intransigent Radical Civic Union (UCRI) 1,593,002 20.82 107 22.48
Pedro Eugenio Aramburu Total Aramburu 1,362,596 17.81 73 15.34
Arturo J. Etchevehere Union of the Argentine People (UDELPA) 726,861 9.50 41 8.61
Horacio Thedy Democratic Progressive Party (PDP) 619,481 8.10 29 6.09
Misiones Alliance 14,453 0.19 3 0.63
Union of the Argentine People-Popular Democratic Party 1,801 0.02
Emilio Olmos Jr. Emilio Jofré National Federation of Center Parties (FNPC) 511,779 6.69 32 6.72
Horacio Sueldo Francisco Eduardo Cerro Christian Democratic Party (PDC) 434,823 5.68 23 4.83
Alfredo Palacios Ramón I. Soria Argentine Socialist Party (PSA) 278,856 3.64 12 2.52
Alfredo Orgaz Rodolfo Fitte Democratic Socialist Party (PSD) 258,787 3.38 10 2.10
Justo León Bengoa Total Bengoa 150,771 1.97 5 1.05
Social Justice Party 83,302 1.09 4 0.84
National Front Movement 40,164 0.52 1 0.21
Labour Party (PL) 20,560 0.27
National Independent Party 6,745 0.09
Alejandro Leloir Three Flags Party 113,941 1.49 7 1.47
White Party 70,860 0.93 4 0.84
Liberal Party of Corrientes (PL) 59,696 0.78 5 1.05
Blockist Radical Civic Union (UCRB) 46,088 0.60 4 0.84
Democratic Federal Movement 42,116 0.55 5 1.05
Autonomist Party of Corrientes (PA) 38,907 0.51 3 0.63
Agrarian Social Party 37,630 0.49
Renewal Crusade Radical Civic Union (UCRCR) 31,718 0.41 2 0.42
National Union 30,730 0.40 1 0.21
Provincial Defense - White Flag 23,437 0.31 2 0.42
Juan Francisco Castro National Action 22,993 0.30
Neuquén People's Movement (MPN) 20,648 0.27 6 1.26
Provincial Party 16,086 0.21 2 0.42
Colorado Party 10,929 0.14 1 0.21
Democratic Conservative People's Party 10,493 0.14
Socialist Party (PS) 9,483 0.12
People's Party 9,371 0.12
Democratic Concentration 6,028 0.08
Popular Intransigent Radical Civic Union 5,301 0.07 1 0.21
Misiones Popular Civic Union 4,212 0.06
Blue and White Party 3,993 0.05
La Rioja Radical Civic Union 2,705 0.04
Autonomist Democratic Party 1,337 0.02
Formosa Civic Union 945 0.01
Argentine Socialist Vanguard Party 475 0.01
Conservative Provincial Workers Party 185 0.00
Total 7,651,985 100
Positive votes 7,651,985 78.80
Blank votes 1,884,435 19.41
Invalid votes 173,696 1.79
Total votes 9,710,116 100
Registered voters/turnout 11,356,240 85.50
Sources:[8][9]

Chamber of Deputies

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Party Votes % Seats
1963-1965
Seats
1963-1967
Total seats
People's Radical Civic Union (UCRP) 2,419,268 30.68 36 36 72
Intransigent Radical Civic Union (UCRI) 1,541,452 19.55 20 20 40
Union of the Argentine People (UDELPA) 656,129 8.32 6 7 13
Democratic Progressive Party (PDP) 555,891 7.05 6 6 12
National Federation of Center Parties (FNPC) 449,065 5.69 4 5 9
Christian Democratic Party (PDC) 436,922 5.54 4 4 8
Argentine Socialist Party (PSA) 306,870 3.89 3 3 6
Democratic Socialist Party (PSD) 306,648 3.89 3 2 5
Popular Union (UP) 193,091 2.45 4 1 5
Three Flags Party 113,715 1.44 1 2 3
White Party 71,149 0.90 1 1
Social Justice Party 66,976 0.85 1 1
Liberal Party of Corrientes (PLCo) 61,250 0.78 1 1 2
National Labour Party 54,449 0.69 2 2
Workers' White Party 46,777 0.59 2 2
Blockist Radical Civic Union (UCRB) 45,395 0.58 1 1
Democratic Federal Movement 42,481 0.54 1 1
Autonomist Party of Corrientes (PA) 39,943 0.51 1 1 2
Renewal Crusade Radical Civic Union (UCRCR) 32,050 0.41 1 1
Provincial Defense - White Flag 24,422 0.31 1 1
San Luis Popular Action 23,126 0.29 1 1
Neuquén People's Movement (MPN) 20,572 0.26 2 2
Provincial Party 16,335 0.21 1 1
Misiones Alliance (UDELPA-PDP) 12,110 0.15 1 1
Others 349,327 4.43
Total 7,885,413 100 96 96 192
Positive votes 7,885,413 81.12
Blank votes 1,642,522 16.90
Invalid votes 192,766 1.98
Total votes 9,720,701 100
Registered voters/turnout 11,356,240 85.60
Source:[10]

References

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  1. ^ "Todo Argentina: 1962". Archived from the original on September 29, 2008.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Potash, Robert (1996). The Army and Politics in Argentina. Stanford University Press.
  3. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica Book of the Year, 1965: communications.
  4. ^ a b c "Todo Argentina: 1963". Archived from the original on 2009-02-18. Retrieved 2009-01-03.
  5. ^ McGuire, James (1997). Peronism Without Peron: Unions, Parties, and Democracy in Argentina. Stanford University Press.
  6. ^ "Murió el ingeniero Emilio Olmos". La Nación.
  7. ^ Nohlen, Dieter (2005). Elections in the Americas: A Data Handbook. Vol. II: South America. Nueva York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-928358-3.
  8. ^ 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. 227–232.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ Elecciones (PDF). Estudios e Investigaciones Nº7. Vol. I. Dirección de Información Parlamentaria del Congreso de la Nación. April 1993. p. 225. ISBN 950-685-009-7.