| Election Name: | 1999 Argentine general election | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country: | Argentina | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Argentina held presidential elections on 24 October 1999. Legislative elections were held on four dates, 8 August, 12 September, 26 September and 24 October, though most polls took place on 24 October.
The Convertibility Plan, which had helped bring about stable prices and economic recovery and modernization, had endured the 1995 Mexican peso crisis, the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and other global shocks; but not without strain. Argentine business confidence struggled following these events and unemployment, already higher as a result of a wave of imports and sharp gains in productivity after 1990, had hovered around 15% since 1995. Economic problems also led to a sudden increase in crime, particularly property crime, and President Carlos Menem's unpopularity had left his Justicialist Party (whose populist Peronist platform he had largely abandoned) weakened.[1] [2]
Having himself experienced the burdens of an economy in crisis, former president and centrist Radical Civic Union (UCR) leader Raúl Alfonsín negotiated the Alliance for Work, Justice, and Education between the center-left FREPASO, who had finished second in the 1995 general elections, and his own UCR party. The Alliance had great electoral success in the 1997 midterm elections winning a majority of congressional seats up for election preventing the Justicialist Party from obtaining a legislative majority, though they retained a legislative plurality. Following their initial victory, the party geared for the 1999 elections by nominating Buenos Aires Mayor Fernando de la Rúa for president and FREPASO leader Carlos 'Chacho' Álvarez as his running mate. De la Rúa had overwhelmingly won the party's Álvarez, a former Peronist who had broken ranks with his party following Menem's turn to the right in 1989, remained the country's most prominent center-left figure following FREPASO's defeat in 1995. He also provided an ideological counterbalance to De la Rúa, a moderately conservative UCR figure who had himself, in 1973, previously been the running mate on a UCR ticket defeated by Juan Perón.
The Justicialist Party was badly positioned as the economy re-entered recession in late 1998. President Menem had only worsened its image by flirting with seeking an unprecedented third straight term, though this was barred by the Argentine Constitution. Unable to persuade Congress to approve these plans, he pledged to run again in 2003, stating that "if I had been permitted to run, I am sure I would have won."[3] His dismissal of de la Rúa as "boring" moreover was effectively used by the Alliance campaign in their ads, by which de la Rúa's tedium became a desirable alternative to Menem's "party" (a reference to the outgoing administration's numerous corruption scandals).[4]
Broadsides like these only further undermined his party's nominee, Buenos Aires Province Governor Eduardo Duhalde, who as a more traditional Peronist, had been distanced from the President since being elected governor in 1991. Duhalde's own approval suffered, however, as crime rates in the Greater Buenos Aires area (home to 2/3 of his constituents) rose steadily. This weakness was highlighted by the Ramallo massacre, a botched police intervention of a bank robbery on September 17 in which members of the force were implicated. An imposing figure in his party despite his diminutive height, Duhalde could only agree on a marginal figure in the party as his running mate: pop musician and former Tucumán Province Governor Ramón Ortega.[5]
Domingo Cavallo, the economist behind the "Argentine miracle" of the early 1990s, had become unpopular during the 1995 recession. He was acrimoniously dismissed by the President in 1996 following his public allegations of influential "mafias" in Menem's entourage. His statements gained validity, however, following the 1997 murder of a news magazine photojournalist targeted by a shipping magnate close to Menem. Cavallo founded the Action for the Republic, and thus became a further obstacle to Duhalde, who would now lose a large share of the Menem vote to the unpredictable economist.[5]
The recession, which had begun to ease on the eve of the October 24 election date, remained a central campaign issue. De la Rúa, who had earned plaudits for his fiscal discipline while mayor of Buenos Aires, stressed the need to crack down on graft and corruption. Besides referring to Menem himself, he pointed to the presence of exiled Paraguayan strongman General Lino Oviedo (who had been allowed in as a fugitive by Menem) as a poster child of the prevailing state of the rule of law. Duhalde focused on promises to combat the recession and double-digit unemployment. An anticipated runoff election was ultimately not needed, since the Alliance obtained 48% of the total vote - winning on the first round by 10% over Duhalde. Cavallo received only 10%, and much of the remainder went to left-wing parties (in contrast to 1995, when the far-right gained top minor-party status).[5]
The 1999 legislative elections renewed about half of the Chamber of Deputies (130 seats); there were no elections to the Senate. The Alliance obtained 63 seats, the Justicialist Party 51, and Domingo Cavallo's Action for the Republic 7. This left the Justicialists in the minority in the Lower House for the first time since 1989.[6]
| Presidential candidate | Vice Presidential candidate | Party | Votes | % | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=left rowspan=4 | Fernando de la Rúa | align=left rowspan=4 | Carlos Álvarez | bgcolor=#E10019 rowspan=4 | Total de la Rúa - Álvarez | 9,167,220 | 48.37 | |
| Alliance for Work, Justice and Education (Alianza) | 8,788,834 | 46.37 | ||||||
| Democratic Progressive Party (PDP) | 297,129 | 1.57 | ||||||
| Autonomist - Liberal - Democratic Progressive | 81,257 | 0.43 | ||||||
| align=left rowspan=8 | Eduardo Duhalde | align=left rowspan=8 | Ramón "Palito" Ortega | bgcolor=#318CE7 rowspan=8 | Total Duhalde - Ortega | 7,253,902 | 38.27 | |
| Justicialist Consensus for Change | 6,466,867 | 34.12 | ||||||
| Union of the Democratic Centre (UCEDE) | 562,674 | 2.97 | ||||||
| Federal Integration Front | 79,749 | 0.42 | ||||||
| Justicialist Party (PJ) | 69,397 | 0.37 | ||||||
| United Popular Movement | 50,082 | 0.26 | ||||||
| Front of Hope | 18,089 | 0.10 | ||||||
| Federal Party | 7,044 | 0.04 | ||||||
| align=left rowspan=3 | Domingo Cavallo | align=left rowspan=3 | Armando Caro Figueroa | bgcolor=#3E5298 rowspan=3 | Total Cavallo - Caro Figueroa | 1,937,544 | 10.22 | |
| Action for the Republic | 1,859,995 | 9.81 | ||||||
| Union of the Democratic Centre of Santa Fe (UCEDE) | 77,549 | 0.41 | ||||||
| Patricia Walsh | Rogelio de Leonardi | bgcolor=red | United Left (IU) | 151,977 | 0.80 | |||
| Lía Méndez | Jorge Pompei | bgcolor=orange | Humanist Party (PH) | 131,811 | 0.70 | |||
| Jorge Altamira | Pablo Rieznik | bgcolor=darkred | Workers' Party (PO) | 113,916 | 0.60 | |||
| Jorge Emilio Reyna | Néstor Gabriel Moccia | bgcolor=lightblue | Resistance Front | 57,133 | 0.30 | |||
| Juan Ricardo Mussa | Irene Fernanda Herrera | bgcolor=darkblue | Social Christian Alliance | 53,143 | 0.28 | |||
| José Alberto Montes | Oscar Hernández | bgcolor=red | Socialist Workers' Party (PTS) | 43,911 | 0.23 | |||
| Domingo Camilo Quarracino | Amelia Rearte | bgcolor=pink | Authentic Socialist Party (PSA) | 43,147 | 0.23 | |||
| Total | 18,953,704 | 100 | ||||||
| Positive votes | 18,953,704 | 95.49 | ||||||
| Blank votes | 708,876 | 3.57 | ||||||
| Invalid votes | 186,761 | 0.94 | ||||||
| Total votes | 19,849,341 | 100 | ||||||
| Registered voters/turnout | 24,111,270 | 82.32 | ||||||
| Sources:[7] [8] | ||||||||
| Party | Votes | % | Seats won | Total seats | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alliance for Work, Justice and Education (Alianza) | 8,497,076 | 45.89 | 66 | 131 | ||
| Justicialist Consensus for Change | 7,153,786 | 38.63 | 51 | 103 | ||
| Action for the Republic (AR) | 1,502,732 | 8.12 | 9 | 12 | ||
| bgcolor=grey | Buenos Aires Unity Party (PAUBO) | 289,860 | 1.57 | 1 | 1 | |
| Democratic Party of Mendoza (PD) | 235,357 | 1.27 | 1 | 3 | ||
| bgcolor=orange | Humanist Party (PH) | 144,712 | 0.78 | — | — | |
| bgcolor=red | United Left (IU) | 150,493 | 0.81 | — | — | |
| bgcolor=darkred | Workers' Party (PO) | 110,576 | 0.60 | — | — | |
| Republican Force (FR) | 99,572 | 0.54 | 1 | 3 | ||
| Neuquén People's Movement (MPN) | 89,798 | 0.48 | 1 | 2 | ||
| bgcolor=pink | Authentic Socialist Party (PSA) | 46,001 | 0.25 | — | — | |
| bgcolor=lightblue | Resistance Front | 42,388 | 0.23 | — | — | |
| bgcolor=red | Socialist Workers' Party (PTS) | 35,977 | 0.19 | — | — | |
| bgcolor=purple | Unity and Liberty Party (PUyL) | 23,471 | 0.13 | — | — | |
| bgcolor=lightgrey | Union for the Future | 20,670 | 0.11 | — | — | |
| bgcolor=lightgrey | Neighborhood Unity Movement | 12,545 | 0.07 | — | — | |
| bgcolor=lightgrey | Renewal Party | 11,404 | 0.06 | — | — | |
| bgcolor=darkblue | Social Christian Alliance | 6,711 | 0.04 | — | — | |
| bgcolor=lightgrey | New Alliance | 6,595 | 0.04 | — | — | |
| bgcolor=lightgrey | New Liberal Alternative Party | 5,655 | 0.03 | — | — | |
| bgcolor=lightgrey | Party of the City | 5,573 | 0.03 | — | — | |
| bgcolor=lightgrey | Río Gallegos Neighborhood Movement for Santa Cruz | 4,836 | 0.03 | — | — | |
| bgcolor=darkblue | Fueguian People's Movement (MOPOF) | 4,562 | 0.02 | — | 1 | |
| bgcolor=lightgrey | Educational Party | 3,463 | 0.02 | — | — | |
| Chaco Action (ACHA) | 3,185 | 0.02 | — | — | ||
| bgcolor=lightgrey | Third Epoch Party | 2,921 | 0.02 | — | — | |
| bgcolor=lightgrey | Fuegian Action Front | 2,084 | 0.01 | — | — | |
| bgcolor=lightgrey | Salta Solidarity Party | 1,603 | 0.01 | — | — | |
| bgcolor=lightgrey | Independence Party | 1,540 | 0.01 | — | — | |
| bgcolor=lightgrey | Solidarity Movement | 1,432 | 0.01 | — | — | |
| bgcolor=lightgrey | Emancipatory Front | 292 | 0.00 | — | — | |
| Development and Justice Party | Did not run | — | 1 | |||
| Total | 18,516,870 | 100 | 130 | 257 | ||
| align=left colspan=2 | Positive votes | 18,516,870 | 93.37 | |||
| align=left colspan=2 | Blank votes | 1,122,980 | 5.66 | |||
| align=left colspan=2 | Invalid votes | 192,862 | 0.97 | |||
| align=left colspan=2 | Total votes | 19,832,712 | 100 | |||
| align=left colspan=2 | Registered voters/turnout | 24,107,414 | 82.27 | |||
| Sources:[9] | ||||||
| Province | Alianza | Justicialist Consensus | AR | Others | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | |||||
| scope=row | Buenos Aires | bgcolor=pink | 3,080,133 | bgcolor=pink | 43.30 | align=center bgcolor=pink | 16 | 2,984,898 | 41.97 | 16 | 511,465 | 7.19 | 2 | 536,175 | 7.54 | 1 |
| scope=row | Buenos Aires City | bgcolor=pink | 1,029,340 | bgcolor=pink | 52.39 | align=center bgcolor=pink | 8 | 439,199 | 22.35 | 1 | 348,814 | 17.75 | 3 | 147,570 | 7.51 | — |
| scope=row | Catamarca | bgcolor=pink | 82,086 | bgcolor=pink | 53.94 | align=center bgcolor=pink | 1 | 66,570 | 43.74 | 1 | — | — | — | 3,537 | 2.32 | — |
| scope=row | Chaco | bgcolor=pink | 255,096 | bgcolor=pink | 58.60 | align=center bgcolor=pink | 2 | 172,846 | 39.71 | 1 | — | — | — | 7,351 | 1.69 | — |
| scope=row | Chubut | bgcolor=pink | 105,017 | bgcolor=pink | 60.74 | align=center bgcolor=pink | 2 | 64,346 | 37.21 | 1 | — | — | — | 3,544 | 2.05 | — |
| scope=row | Córdoba | bgcolor=pink | 761,728 | bgcolor=pink | 45.74 | align=center bgcolor=pink | 4 | 675,203 | 40.55 | 4 | 170,215 | 10.22 | 1 | 58,111 | 3.49 | — |
| scope=row | Corrientes | 192,175 | 45.43 | 2 | bgcolor=lightblue | 203,569 | bgcolor=lightblue | 48.12 | align=center bgcolor=lightblue | 2 | 22,562 | 5.33 | — | 4,696 | 1.11 | — |
| scope=row | Entre Ríos | bgcolor=pink | 315,659 | bgcolor=pink | 49.94 | align=center bgcolor=pink | 2 | 289,117 | 45.74 | 2 | 21,655 | 3.43 | — | 5,626 | 0.89 | — |
| scope=row | Formosa | 91,791 | 48.65 | 1 | bgcolor=lightblue | 95,743 | bgcolor=lightblue | 50.74 | align=center bgcolor=lightblue | 2 | — | — | — | 1,150 | 0.61 | — |
| scope=row | Jujuy | bgcolor=pink | 116,369 | bgcolor=pink | 49.32 | align=center bgcolor=pink | 2 | 107,762 | 45.67 | 1 | 7,513 | 3.18 | — | 4,289 | 1.82 | — |
| scope=row | La Pampa | 79,260 | 47.63 | 1 | bgcolor=lightblue | 79,601 | bgcolor=lightblue | 47.84 | align=center bgcolor=lightblue | 1 | 5,468 | 3.29 | — | 2,073 | 1.25 | — |
| scope=row | La Rioja | 38,860 | 31.02 | 1 | bgcolor=lightblue | 86,412 | bgcolor=lightblue | 68.98 | align=center bgcolor=lightblue | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| scope=row | Mendoza | bgcolor=pink | 302,244 | bgcolor=pink | 38.27 | align=center bgcolor=pink | 2 | 175,164 | 22.18 | 1 | 66,812 | 8.46 | 1 | 245,531 | 31.09 | 1 |
| scope=row | Misiones | 189,938 | 45.68 | 2 | bgcolor=lightblue | 224,029 | bgcolor=lightblue | 53.87 | align=center bgcolor=lightblue | 2 | — | — | — | 1,874 | 0.45 | — |
| scope=row | Neuquén | 74,671 | 36.31 | 1 | 33,327 | 16.21 | — | — | — | — | bgcolor=LightSteelBlue | 97,623 | bgcolor=LightSteelBlue | 47.48 | align=center bgcolor=LightSteelBlue | 1 |
| scope=row | Río Negro | bgcolor=pink | 136,121 | bgcolor=pink | 57.32 | align=center bgcolor=pink | 2 | 60,961 | 25.67 | 1 | 34,205 | 14.40 | — | 6,188 | 2.61 | — |
| scope=row | Salta | bgcolor=pink | 200,697 | bgcolor=pink | 44.94 | align=center bgcolor=pink | 2 | 210,723 | 47.18 | 2 | 20,044 | 4.49 | — | 15,151 | 3.39 | — |
| scope=row | San Juan | bgcolor=pink | 159,254 | bgcolor=pink | 51.92 | align=center bgcolor=pink | 2 | 99,521 | 32.44 | 1 | 45,013 | 14.67 | — | 2,950 | 0.96 | — |
| scope=row | San Luis | bgcolor=pink | 73,276 | bgcolor=pink | 44.62 | align=center bgcolor=pink | 1 | 67,490 | 41.09 | 1 | — | — | — | 23,471 | 14.29 | — |
| scope=row | Santa Cruz | bgcolor=pink | 37,561 | bgcolor=pink | 45.85 | align=center bgcolor=pink | 1 | 37,334 | 45.58 | 1 | — | — | — | 7,020 | 8.57 | — |
| scope=row | Santa Fe | bgcolor=pink | 865,846 | bgcolor=pink | 52.32 | align=center bgcolor=pink | 6 | 547,004 | 33.05 | 3 | 194,644 | 11.76 | 1 | 47,468 | 2.87 | — |
| scope=row | Santiago del Estero | bgcolor=pink | 115,652 | bgcolor=pink | 34.35 | align=center bgcolor=pink | 2 | 189,627 | 56.33 | 2 | 8,776 | 2.61 | — | 22,597 | 6.71 | — |
| scope=row | Tierra del Fuego | 10,112 | 25.76 | 1 | 9,658 | 24.60 | 1 | bgcolor=LightSteelBlue | 11,484 | bgcolor=LightSteelBlue | 29.26 | align=center bgcolor=LightSteelBlue | 1 | 8,000 | 20.38 | — |
| scope=row | Tucumán | 184,190 | 32.70 | 2 | bgcolor=lightblue | 233,682 | bgcolor=lightblue | 41.49 | align=center bgcolor=lightblue | 2 | 34,062 | 6.05 | — | 111,281 | 19.76 | 1 |
| Total | 8,497,076 | 45.89 | 66 | 7,153,786 | 38.63 | 51 | 1,502,732 | 8.12 | 9 | 1,363,276 | 7.36 | 4 | ||||
Provincial elections were held in every province except Corrientes. Elections for Mayor of the City of Buenos Aires were held the following May. The Justicialist Party increased their majority among governors by one, to 15; outgoing Vice President Carlos Ruckauf was elected Governor of Buenos Aires Province, the nation's largest. The UCR retained 6, mainly in the Alliance (all but 3 Alliance candidates, in turn, were from the UCR). The Justicialists wrested governorships from the UCR (Córdoba), from the MPF in Tierra del Fuego (which endorsed the Justicialists), and from the far-right Republican Force (Tucumán); the UCR, in turn, displaced the Justicialists in Entre Ríos, Mendoza, and San Juan.[10] [11]
| District | Elected Governor | Party | % | Runner-up | Party | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 48.3 | FREPASO (Alliance) | 41.4 | |||||
| Civic Social Front (UCR) | 52.6 | 44.7 | |||||
| Ángel Rozas R | 63.4 | 35.9 | |||||
| José Lizurume | UCR (Alliance) | 52.0 | Justicialist | 46.1 | |||
| City of Buenos Aires1 | FREPASO (Alliance) | 49.3 | 33.2 | ||||
| Córdoba2 | Justicialist | 49.6 | Ramón Mestre L | UCR | 40.5 | ||
| UCR (Alliance) | 49.1 | Héctor Maya | 47.5 | ||||
| Gildo Insfrán R | Justicialist | 73.7 | Gabriel Hernández | UCR (Alliance) | 26.1 | ||
| Eduardo Fellner R | Justicialist | 50.6 | UCR (Alliance) | 49.4 | |||
| Rubén Marín R | Justicialist | 56.7 | Juan Carlos Passo | UCR (Alliance) | 39.8 | ||
| Ángel Maza R | Justicialist | 68.6 | José Luis Bellia | UCR (Alliance) | 29.5 | ||
| UCR (Alliance) | 37.9 | Carlos Balter | 32.2 | ||||
| Carlos Rovira R | 53.7 | Ricardo Barrios Arrechea | UCR (Alliance) | 45.8 | |||
| 44.2 | Oscar Massei | FREPASO (Alliance) | 36.7 | ||||
| Pablo Verani R | UCR (Alliance) | 48.6 | Remo Costanzo | 41.7 | |||
| Juan Carlos Romero R | Justicialist | 58.5 | UCR (Alliance) | 40.2 | |||
| UCR (Alliance) | 55.7 | Jorge Escobar L | Justicialist | 42.3 | |||
| Adolfo Rodríguez Saá R | Justicialist | 54.3 | Walter Ceballos | UCR (Alliance) | 45.0 | ||
| Néstor Kirchner R | Justicialist | 54.6 | Anselmo Martínez | UCR (Alliance) | 44.3 | ||
| Justicialist | 57.6 | UCR (Alliance) | 41.4 | ||||
| Carlos Juárez R | Justicialist | 52.2 | Héctor Ruiz | New Alliance | 26.3 | ||
| Carlos Manfredotti | Justicialist | 50.9 | UCR (Alliance) | 49.1 | |||
| Justicialist | 36.5 | Ricardo Bussi | 35.8 | ||||
| ---- 1: Election held May 7, 2000. The City of Buenos Aires is not a province but an autonomous federal territory. The head of the local Executive is referred to as "Government Chief." 2: Election held December 20, 1998. R: Reelected. L: Incumbent lost. | |||||||