1958 Argentine general election

The Argentine general election of 1958 was held on 23 February. Voters chose both the President and their legislators and with a turnout of 90.9% (the highest in Argentine electoral history), it produced the following results:

1958 Argentine general election
23 February 1958
 
Nominee Arturo Frondizi Ricardo Balbín
Party UCRI UCRP
Home state Corrientes Buenos Aires
Running mate Alejandro Gómez Santiago H. del Castillo
Electoral vote 318 135
States carried 21 + CF 0
Popular vote 4,090,840 2,640,454
Percentage 52.77% 34.06%
Most voted party by province.
President before election

Pedro Eugenio Aramburu

 Elected President

Arturo Frondizi
URCI

President
Party/Electoral Alliance Votes Percentage Electoral
College
Intransigent Radical Civic Union 4,090,840 47.6% 318
Popular Radical Civic Union 2,640,454 30.7% 135
Christian Democratic Party 289,245 3.4%
Socialist Party 262,369 3.1%
Popular Conservative Party 172,721 2.0%
Democratic Progressive Party 127,465 1.5%
Liberal Party of Corrientes 51,092 0.6% 5
Others 118,375 1.4%
Positive votes 7,752,561 90.3% 458
Blank and nullified votes 836,658 9.7% 8 a
Total votes 8,589,219 100.0% 466

aAbstentions.

Argentine Chamber of Deputies
Party/Electoral Alliance Seats % of votes
UCRI 133 49.3%
UCR-P 52 31.7%
Liberal Party
(Corrientes Province)		 2 0.6%
Others 9.2%
Invalid votes 9.2%
Total 187 100.0%

[1]

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.

Todo Argentina

Candidates
  • Frondizi
  • Balbín (left)
  • Palacios

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 AiresOscar AlendeIntransigent Radical Civic Union
CatamarcaJuan Manuel SalasIntransigent Radical Civic Union
ChacoAnselmo Zoilo DucaIntransigent Radical Civic Union
ChubutJorge GalinaIntransigent Radical Civic Union
CórdobaArturo ZanichelliIntransigent Radical Civic Union
CorrientesFernando Piragine NiveyroIntransigent Radical Civic Union
Entre RíosRaúl Lucio UrangaIntransigent Radical Civic Union
FormosaLuis GutniskyIntransigent Radical Civic Union
JujuyHoracio GuzmánIntransigent Radical Civic Union
1960: La PampaIsmael AmitIntransigent Radical Civic Union
La RiojaHerminio Torres BrizuelaIntransigent Radical Civic Union
MendozaErnesto UeltschiIntransigent Radical Civic Union
1960: MisionesCésar Napoleón AyraultIntransigent Radical Civic Union
NeuquénÁngel EdelmanIntransigent Radical Civic Union
Río NegroEdgardo CastelloIntransigent Radical Civic Union
SaltaBernardino BiellaIntransigent Radical Civic Union
San JuanAmérico GarcíaIntransigent Radical Civic Union
San LuisAlberto DomeniconiIntransigent Radical Civic Union
Santa CruzMario ParadeloIntransigent Radical Civic Union
Santa FeCarlos Sylvestre BegnisIntransigent Radical Civic Union
Santiago del EsteroEduardo MiguelIntransigent Radical Civic Union
TucumánCelestino GelsiIntransigent Radical Civic Union
Federal Capital (Appointment)Hernán M. GiraltIntransigent Radical Civic Union
Tierra del Fuego (Appointment)Ernesto Manuel CamposIntransigent Radical Civic Union

Notes
  1. Nohlen, Dieter. Elections in the Americas. Oxford University Press, 2005.
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