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Argentina Page |
Welcome to ElectionInfo.com's pages on Argentina
Official Name: Argentine Republic
Capital: Buenos Aires
Area: 2,766,890 square kilometres (1,068,302 square miles)
Major cities (Population)
Buenos Aires 2,961,000 (1991)
Córdoba 1,148,305 (1991)
Rosario 894,645 (1991)
San Miguel de Tucumán 626,143 (1990 estimate)
La Plata 520,647 (1991)
Mar del Plata 519,707 (1991)
Salta 367,099 (1991)
Mendoza 67,113 (1993 estimate)
Population: 34,587,000 (1995 estimate)
Population growth rate: 1.2 per cent (1990-1995 average)
Type of government: Republic
Independence: 9 July 1816 (from Spain)
Constitution: 1 May 1853; revised August 1994
Voting Rights: Universal at age 18
Government
The executive branch consists of a president and a cabinet. The national congress has two houses: the Senate, which has 48 members nominated by the legislatures of the country’s provinces for nine-year terms (with one-third of the seats up for renewal every three years); and the Chamber of Deputies, which has 259 members elected for four-year terms (with one-half of the seats up for election every two years). Members of the independent supreme court are appointed by the president, with the approval of the senate. The president, who is elected with a vice president for a four-year term, is both chief of state and head of government. The voting age is 18. Argentina is made up of 22 provinces, the territory of Tierra del Fuego, and the Federal District of Buenos Aires. An amended constitution was approved in 1994 that allowed a president to serve more than one term, shortened the presidential term from six years to four years, and gave more independence to the judicial branch.
Recent History
By the beginning of the 20th century Argentina had become one of the richest countries in the world, and its population had been boosted by the arrival of millions of Europeans. Civilian rule was generally peaceful and stable until a military coup in 1930. Another coup occurred in 1943, after which Juan Domingo Perón, a key figure in the coup, emerged as the country’s leader. He encouraged the growth of labour unions and raised wages, and in 1946 he was elected president. Perón and his wife, Eva—who was a champion of social welfare programmes—were immensely popular among the masses, but as the economy deteriorated Perón became increasingly autocratic. His efforts to secularize the nation brought him into conflict with the Roman Catholic Church and alienated his military officers. He was overthrown in 1955.
After a series of military governments, Perón was allowed to return to power in 1973, but he died in 1974, leaving his second wife, Isabel, who had no political experience, as the first woman to head a national government in the western hemisphere. During her time in office, Marxist revolutionaries called Montoneros engaged in a violent guerrilla campaign, which led the military to take power in 1976. The army then embarked upon its own “dirty war” against those it considered to be subversive, and thousands disappeared or were murdered. In 1981 General Videla, who had ousted Isabel Perón, was succeeded as president by General Roberto Viola. Before the year ended Viola had been replaced by General Leopold Galtieri.
In 1982, faced with an economic crisis, Galtieri ordered Argentine forces to invade the Falkland Islands, called Islas Malvinas in Spanish—a British territory that had long been claimed by Argentina. To the junta’s surprise, the United Kingdom dispatched a military task force to the South Atlantic, and within three months the Argentine forces had been defeated and the islands recaptured. Humiliated, Galtieri resigned, and in 1983 democratic elections brought Raúl Alfonsín of the Radical Civic Union party to power. Under Alfonsín the economy deteriorated further, and in May 1989 he became the first leader in nearly half a century to be replaced democratically, when the leader of the Partido Justicialista (the Perónist party), Carlos Saúl Menem, was elected president.
Menem’s first 18 months in office were difficult. Since 1991 he has been aided by his finance minister, Domingo Cavallo, who has promoted free-market policies and a radical liberalization programme. This has led to a remarkable transformation of the Argentine economy, and the country has enjoyed increasing political stability. Menem was re-elected to the presidency in 1995, marking the third consecutive planned and peaceful election. Menem’s Perónist party also won a majority of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies in the election, giving them control of both houses of Congress. With the dark days of dictatorship behind them, Argentines have regained their pride in their country and are enjoying the freedom of democracy, as well as their improving economic circumstances.
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