1946 Argentine general election

The Argentine general election of 1946, the last for which only men were enfranchised, was held on 24 February. Voters chose both the President and their legislators and with a turnout of 83.4%, it produced the following results:

1946 Argentine general election

24 February 1946
Presidential election
Candidate Juan Perón José Tamborini Party Labour Party Radical Civic Union Alliance Democratic Union Popular vote 1,487,866 1,207,080 Percentage 52.84% 42.87%
Most voted party by province.
President of Argentina before election Edelmiro Julián Farrell Elected President Juan Perón Labour Party
Legislative election
158 seats in the Chamber of Deputies 80 seats needed for a majority
Party Leader % Seats Labour Juan Perón 43.7 101 UCR Gabriel Oddone 27.6 44 UD 13.9 5 Other parties 14.8 8 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
President of the Chamber of Deputies after Ricardo Guardo UCR

President

Party/Electoral Alliance	Votes	Percentage	Electoral College
Labour Party	1,487,866	52.8%	299
Democratic Union (Alliance of the Radical Civic Union (UCR), Socialist Party and Communist Party)[1]	1,207,080	42.9%	66
National Democratic Party	43,499	1.5%
Others	77,307	2.7%
Positive votes	2,855,192	99.2%	365
Blank and nullified votes	23,735	0.8%	11 ^a
Total votes	2,878,927	100.0%	376

^aAbstentions.

Argentine Chamber of Deputies

Party/Electoral Alliance	Seats	% of votes
Labour Party	101	43.7%
Radical Civic Union (UCR)	44	27.6%
Democratic Union (allied to the UCR)	5	13.9%
Others	8	14.8%
Total	158	100.0%

[2]

Background

Conservative rule, maintained through electoral fraud despite a moderate record, was brought to an end in a June 1943 coup d'état. Barking "orders of the day" every morning on the radio, the new regime enjoyed little approval. The devastating 1944 San Juan earthquake presented an opportunity to regain lost goodwill and the regime moved quickly, involving the private sector through nationwide fund-raising, entrusted to the Labor Minister, Juan Perón. Perón enlisted celebrities for the effort, among which was a radio matinee star of middling talent, Eva Duarte, who introduced herself to the Labor Minister by remarking that "nothing's missing, except a touch of Atkinson's". The effort's success and the rise of his ally, Edelmiro Farrell, within the junta, led to Perón's appointment as vice-president, which he leveraged in support of Argentina's struggling labor unions, particularly the CGT.

Supporters of the Democratic Union gather on May Avenue in Buenos Aires. This 1945 alliance of conservatives and leftists was tenuously united only by its opposition to Perón.

Perón's sudden clout led to growing rivalry among his junta colleagues, who had him arrested on October 9, a surprise move outdone by CGT leaders like retail workers' leader Ángel Borlenghi, the slaughterhouses' Cipriano Reyes and Eva Duarte, herself. Organizing a mass (and, at times, violent) demonstration for his release on the Plaza de Mayo, their October 17, 1945, mobilization marked a turning point in Argentine history: the creation of the Peronist movement. Capitulating to the political winds, the junta bestowed presidential powers on Perón, who initiated his program of mass nationalizations of institutions such as the universities and Central Bank. Calling elections for February 1946, Perón's opposition hastily arranged an alliance, the Democratic Union. Many in the centrist Radical Civic Union were steadfastly opposed to this ad hoc union with conservatives and the left, an intrinsic burden compounded by a white paper scathingly critical of Perón released by the U.S. Ambassador, Spruille Braden. The report, accusing Perón of fascist ties, allowed him to marginalize the Democratic Union (and their distinguished, though disastrously-named nominees, José Tamborini and Enrique Mosca – the "tambourine and the fly"). He quickly reframed the argument as one between "Perón or Braden", making this his rallying cry and winning the 1946 elections handily.

Candidates for President

• Labor Party: Former Vice-President Juan Perón from Buenos Aires Province
• Democratic Union (UCR-led alliance): Former Congressman José Tamborini from the city of Buenos Aires

• 
  Perón
• 
  Tamborini

Governors

Election of Provincial Governors
Elected: 14
Province	Elected	Party	Map
Buenos Aires	Domingo Mercante	Labour Party
Catamarca	Pacífico Rodríguez	Labour Party
Córdoba	Argentino Auchter	UCR - Junta Renovadora
Corrientes	Blas Benjamín de la Vega	Unión Cívica Radical
Entre Ríos	Héctor Domingo Maya	Labour Party
Jujuy	Alberto Iturbe	UCR - Junta Renovadora
La Rioja	José Francisco de la Vega	UCR - Junta Renovadora
Mendoza	Faustino Picallo	UCR - Junta Renovadora
Salta	Lucio Alfredo Cornejo Linares	UCR - Junta Renovadora
San Juan	Juan Luis Alvarado	Labour Party
San Luis	Ricardo Zavala Ortíz	UCR - Junta Renovadora
Santa Fe	Waldino Suárez	Labour Party
Santiago del Estero	Aristóbulo Mittelbach	Labour Party
Tucumán	Carlos Domínguez	Labour Party

References

1. Democratic Union was also supported by conservatives, who were excluded from the alliance
2. Nohlen, Dieter. Elections in the Americas. Oxford University Press, 2005.

Online references

• Todo Argentina (in Spanish)