Argentine general election, 1951

Argentine general election, 1951
Argentina
11 November 1951

 
Nominee Juan Perón Ricardo Balbín
Party Peronist Party Radical Civic Union
Home state Buenos Aires Buenos Aires
Running mate Hortensio Quijano Arturo Frondizi
Popular vote 4,745,168 2,415,750
Percentage 62.5% 31.8%
President before election

Juan Perón
Peronist Party

 Elected President

Juan Perón
Peronist Party

The Argentine general election of 1951, the first to have enfranchised women at the national level, was held on 11 November. Voters chose both the President of Argentina and their legislators and with a turnout of 88.0%, it produced the following results:

President

Party/Electoral Alliance Votes Percentage
Peronist Party 4,745,168 62.5%
Radical Civic Union 2,415,750 31.8%
Democratic Party 174,399 2.3%
Communist Party 71,318 0.9%
Socialist Party 54,920 0.7%
Others 22,404 0.3%
Positive votes 7,483,959 98.6%
Blank and nullified votes 109,989 1.4%
Total votes 7,593,948 100.0%

Note: The 1949 Constitution abolished the Electoral College.

Argentine Chamber of Deputies

Party/Electoral Alliance Seats % of votes
Peronist Party 135 63.5%
Radical Civic Union 14 32.3%
Others and blanks 4.2%
Total 149 100.0%

[1]

Background

President Juan Perón (1895-1974) had become President for the first time in June 1946 (see Argentine general election, 1946). His popularity was riding high following five years of populist social reforms and a vigorous public works program, faced intensifying opposition during 1951. His decision to expropriate the conservative La Prensa (then the nation's second-most circulated daily), though lauded by the CGT labor union, damaged his standing elsewhere at home and his reputation in the World, as did the climate of political liberties: the opposition UCR's nominee, Congressman Ricardo Balbín, had spent much of the previous year as a political prisoner, to name one of many such examples. Economically, the year was an improvement over the 1949-50 recession and saw the completion of a number of landmark public works and the inaugural of Channel 13 (Public Television), the first regular broadcast station in Latin America; but growing inflation (50%, a record at the time) led to increasing strike activity.

Ballot paper for Perón - Quijano.
The ailing Eva Perón (right) casts a vote for the "reason of her life," President Juan Perón.

The UCR and other parties in opposition, harassed and deprived of access to the media, boycotted a number of Congressional races and all Senate races, as well. The vice president, Hortensio Quijano, had requested leave from the campaign due to failing health and, on August 22, the CGT organized a rally on Buenos Aires' massive Ninth of July Avenue in support of the influential first lady Eva Perón as her husband's running mate, though unbeknownst to the crowd, the popular Evita was, like Quijano, dying, and thus refused the acclamation. Quijano reluctantly stayed on; but her stepping aside did not prevent a September 28 coup attempt against Perón on the part of ultraconservative elements in the Army. Ultimately, these ill-considered attacks, the Peróns' popularity and their control of much of the media combined to give the Peronist Party a landslide in this, the first Argentine national election in which the vote was extended to women.

Todo Argentina

Candidates

Footnotes

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