1963 Argentine general election

The Argentine general election of 1963 was held on 7 July. Voters chose both the President and their legislators; with a turnout of 85.6%, resulting in the election of Arturo Illia as President of Argentina.

1963 Argentine general election

Presidential election
← 1958 7 July 1963 March 1973 →
476 members of the Electoral College 239 votes needed to win
Registered	11,356,240
Turnout	85.50%
Nominee Arturo Illia Oscar Alende Pedro Aramburu Party UCRP UCRI UDELPA Alliance UDELPA - PDP Running mate Carlos Perette Celestino Gelsi Arturo Etchevehere/ Horacio Thedy Electoral vote 171 107 73 States carried 11 + CF 4 1 Popular vote 2,441,064 1,593,002 1,362,596 Percentage 31.90% 20.82% 17.81%   Nominee Emilio Olmos Jr. Horacio Sueldo [es] none Party FNPC PDC MPN Running mate Emilio Jofré [es] Francisco Eduardo Cerro [es] none Electoral vote 32 23 6 States carried 3 0 1 Popular vote 511,779 434,823 20,648 Percentage 6.69% 5.68% 0.27%   Nominee none none Party MFD UCRB Running mate none none Electoral vote 5 4 States carried 1 1 Popular vote 42,116 46,088 Percentage 0.55% 0.60%
Most voted candidate by province.
President before election José María Guido UCRI Elected President Arturo Illia UCRP
Legislative election
← 1962 7 July 1963 1965 →
192 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
Turnout	85.60%
Party % Seats Chamber of Deputies People's Radical Civic Union 30.68% 72 Intransigent Radical Civic Union 19.55% 40 Union of the Argentine People 8.32% 13 Democratic Progressive Party 7.05% 12 National Federation of Center Parties 5.69% 9 Christian Democratic Party 5.54% 8 Argentine Socialist Party 3.89% 6 Democratic Socialist Party 3.89% 5 Popular Union 2.45% 5 Others 12.94% 22 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Results by province

Background

The spectre of military intervention so much in evidence after the election of Arturo Frondizi in 1958 became reality following his coerced resignation on March 29, 1962. His UCRI candidates had done well; but the evening's big surprise, Andrés Framini's election as Governor of Buenos Aires Province (one of ten Peronists to win gubernatorial polls that night), proved unacceptable to the armed forces.^[1] An array of political leaders had been lobbying the military against Frondizi, as well: centrist UCRP leader Ricardo Balbín (whom Frondizi defeated on a splinter ticket in 1958) and conservative economist Álvaro Alsogaray (whom Frondizi sidestepped in favor of pro-industry economist Rogelio Julio Frigerio) both openly celebrated the president's unceremonious exit.^[2]

 

A military adjutant watches over interim President Guido, an unwitting metaphor as Army factions wrestled for control of his puppet regime.

The matter of Frondizi's successor, itself, became a subject of contention within the armed forces. The two opposing camps defined themselves as either "Blues" ((in Spanish) Azules, at pains to maintain a patina of legality over the destabilizing intervention) or "Reds" ((in Spanish) Colorados, lacking any compunction against imposing a prolonged and repressive dictatorship). The stalemate lasted merely a day because most of the Army High Command were "Blues," whose preference of a "legal" solution to the vacuum was supported by most of the press and the Argentine public,^[2] then enjoying Latin America's widest access to the media.^[3] Relying on constitutional guidelines, they named the reluctant Senate President José María Guido Head of State.^[2]

Guido, a moderate senator from then-remote Río Negro Province, had been elected on Frondizi's 's UCRI ticket. His prompt resignation from the UCRI and annulment of the March 18 mid-term elections did not immediately dispel the threat of a coup attempt, however, and mutinies in April and August resulted in the appointment of Army General Juan Carlos Onganía (who successfully rebelled against his "Red" superiors) as Head of the Military Joint Chiefs. The more stable military panorama was overshadowed by economic worries.^[2] Following a brief period of robust growth led by industrial production, President Guido's economic team, led by Alsogaray, imposed a fresh devaluation and austerity measures such as strict credit controls and even the payment of state salaries with nearly-worthless bonds. GDP fell by 4% in 1962-63 and unemployment rose to nearly 9%.^[4]

The Radical Civic Union (UCR) was again divided between the Intransigent (UCRI) and more conservative Popular (UCRP) factions as they convened in March 1963. The UCRP nominated former Córdoba Province Vice-Governor Arturo Illia, a country doctor fondly remembered for his work in the Public Health Committee in Congress; Balbín, who still led the UCRP, opted out of the nomination at the party's March 10 convention believing that a less anti-Peronist choice would give the UCRP a critical advantage over the rival UCRI.^[2]

The UCRI, as they had done in 1958, initially hoped to secure the exiled Juan Perón's endorsement who, from Madrid, still directly controlled a fifth of the Argentine electorate. Permitted to field local and Lower House candidates (but still banned from either the Senate or the Presidency) Peronist voters, like in 1962, rallied behind the UP and six other parties. Their intention to run in the less-than-free elections was itself in defiance of Perón, however, who refused to endorse "neo-Peronist" candidates and instead called for blank ballots. Alejandro Leloir, who had fallen out with fellow neo-Peronists as well as Perón, ran for President independently on the Three Flags ticket; named for the "three Peronist flags" of sovereignty, independence, and social justice, this became the only Peronist ticket allowed on the presidential ballot in 1963.^[5]

Against opposition from former Buenos Aires Governor Oscar Alende, Frondizi and Perón initially agreed on a "National Popular Front," fielding a respected, moderately conservative publisher as the nominee, Vicente Solano Lima. Tricked by a similar move in 1958, the military objected, however, leading to the brutal 1963 Argentine Navy Revolt on April 2, which cost 24 lives and effectively scuttled the Perón-Frondizi front. These incidents led former President Pedro Aramburu run on his UDELPA ticket, thus hoping to provide those most likely to support a military coup a suitable, center-right choice instead. He was also endorsed by the more moderate Democratic Progressive Party, whose leader, Horacio Thedy, ran as Aramburu's running mate; making fears of Perón's return his battle horse, Aramburu's slogan was unequivocal: Vote UDELPA...and HE won't return! ^[2] Other anti-Peronist conservatives supported former Córdoba Mayor Emilio Olmos and the FNPC.^[6]

Hamstrung by Frondizi's open enmity against Alende for the latter's rejection of the ultimately aborted Front, as well as Perón's call for blank ballots, Alende's UCRI was defeated in an upset by Dr. Arturo Illia and the UCRP.^[4]

The renewed ban on the participation of Peronist candidates resulted in the highest percentage of blank votes in Argentine electoral history;^[4] Leloir's Three Flags ticket received 4 electoral votes.^[7]

Candidates for President

• Radical Civic Union (centrist): Former Deputy Arturo Umberto Illia of Córdoba
• Intransigent Radical Civic Union (center-left): Former Governor Oscar Alende of Buenos Aires
• UDELPA (conservative): Former de facto President Pedro Eugenio Aramburu of Córdoba
• National Federation of Center Parties (conservative): Former Córdoba Mayor Emilio Olmos
• Christian Democratic Party (centrist): Former Deputy Horacio Sueldo of Buenos Aires
• Socialist Party: Former Senator Alfredo Palacios of Buenos Aires

•  
  Illia
•  
  Alende
•  
  Aramburu
•  
  Sueldo
•  
  Palacios

Results

President

Presidential candidate	Vice Presidential candidate	Party		Popular vote		Electoral vote
				Votes	%	Votes	%
Arturo Umberto Illia	Carlos Humberto Perette		People's Radical Civic Union (UCRP)	2,441,064	31.90	171	35.92
Oscar Alende	Celestino Gelsi		Intransigent Radical Civic Union (UCRI)	1,593,002	20.82	107	22.48
Pedro Eugenio Aramburu			Total Aramburu	1,362,596	17.81	73	15.34
	Arturo J. Etchevehere		Union of the Argentine People (UDELPA)	726,861	9.50	41	8.61
	Horacio Thedy		Democratic Progressive Party (PDP)	619,481	8.10	29	6.09
			Misiones Alliance	14,453	0.19	3	0.63
			Union of the Argentine People-Popular Democratic Party	1,801	0.02
Emilio Olmos Jr.	Emilio Jofré		National Federation of Center Parties (FNPC)	511,779	6.69	32	6.72
Horacio Sueldo	Francisco Eduardo Cerro		Christian Democratic Party (PDC)	434,823	5.68	23	4.83
Alfredo Palacios	Ramón I. Soria		Argentine Socialist Party (PSA)	278,856	3.64	12	2.52
Alfredo Orgaz	Rodolfo Fitte		Democratic Socialist Party (PSD)	258,787	3.38	10	2.10
Justo León Bengoa			Total Bengoa	150,771	1.97	5	1.05
			Social Justice Party	83,302	1.09	4	0.84
			National Front Movement	40,164	0.52	1	0.21
			Labour Party (PL)	20,560	0.27
			National Independent Party	6,745	0.09
Alejandro Leloir			Three Flags Party	113,941	1.49	7	1.47
			White Party	70,860	0.93	4	0.84
			Liberal Party of Corrientes (PL)	59,696	0.78	5	1.05
			Blockist Radical Civic Union (UCRB)	46,088	0.60	4	0.84
			Democratic Federal Movement	42,116	0.55	5	1.05
			Autonomist Party of Corrientes (PA)	38,907	0.51	3	0.63
			Agrarian Social Party	37,630	0.49
			Renewal Crusade Radical Civic Union (UCRCR)	31,718	0.41	2	0.42
			National Union	30,730	0.40	1	0.21
			Provincial Defense - White Flag	23,437	0.31	2	0.42
Juan Francisco Castro			National Action	22,993	0.30
			Neuquén People's Movement (MPN)	20,648	0.27	6	1.26
			Provincial Party	16,086	0.21	2	0.42
			Colorado Party	10,929	0.14	1	0.21
			Democratic Conservative People's Party	10,493	0.14
			Socialist Party (PS)	9,483	0.12
			People's Party	9,371	0.12
			Democratic Concentration	6,028	0.08
			Popular Intransigent Radical Civic Union	5,301	0.07	1	0.21
			Misiones Popular Civic Union	4,212	0.06
			Blue and White Party	3,993	0.05
			La Rioja Radical Civic Union	2,705	0.04
			Autonomist Democratic Party	1,337	0.02
			Formosa Civic Union	945	0.01
			Argentine Socialist Vanguard Party	475	0.01
			Conservative Provincial Workers Party	185	0.00
Total				7,651,985	100
Positive votes				7,651,985	78.80
Blank votes				1,884,435	19.41
Invalid votes				173,696	1.79
Total votes				9,710,116	100
Registered voters/turnout				11,356,240	85.50
Sources:^[8]^[9]

Chamber of Deputies

Party		Votes	%	Seats 1963-1965	Seats 1963-1967	Total seats
	People's Radical Civic Union (UCRP)	2,419,268	30.68	36	36	72
	Intransigent Radical Civic Union (UCRI)	1,541,452	19.55	20	20	40
	Union of the Argentine People (UDELPA)	656,129	8.32	6	7	13
	Democratic Progressive Party (PDP)	555,891	7.05	6	6	12
	National Federation of Center Parties (FNPC)	449,065	5.69	4	5	9
	Christian Democratic Party (PDC)	436,922	5.54	4	4	8
	Argentine Socialist Party (PSA)	306,870	3.89	3	3	6
	Democratic Socialist Party (PSD)	306,648	3.89	3	2	5
	Popular Union (UP)	193,091	2.45	4	1	5
	Three Flags Party	113,715	1.44	1	2	3
	White Party	71,149	0.90	—	1	1
	Social Justice Party	66,976	0.85	1	—	1
	Liberal Party of Corrientes (PLCo)	61,250	0.78	1	1	2
	National Labour Party	54,449	0.69	—	2	2
	Workers' White Party	46,777	0.59	—	2	2
	Blockist Radical Civic Union (UCRB)	45,395	0.58	1	—	1
	Democratic Federal Movement	42,481	0.54	—	1	1
	Autonomist Party of Corrientes (PA)	39,943	0.51	1	1	2
	Renewal Crusade Radical Civic Union (UCRCR)	32,050	0.41	1	—	1
	Provincial Defense - White Flag	24,422	0.31	—	1	1
	San Luis Popular Action	23,126	0.29	1	—	1
	Neuquén People's Movement (MPN)	20,572	0.26	2	—	2
	Provincial Party	16,335	0.21	1	—	1
	Misiones Alliance (UDELPA-PDP)	12,110	0.15	—	1	1
	Others	349,327	4.43	—	—	—
Total		7,885,413	100	96	96	192
Positive votes		7,885,413	81.12
Blank votes		1,642,522	16.90
Invalid votes		192,766	1.98
Total votes		9,720,701	100
Registered voters/turnout		11,356,240	85.60
Source:^[10]

References

1. . Archived from the original on September 29, 2008.
2. Potash, Robert (1996). The Army and Politics in Argentina. Stanford University Press.
3. Encyclopædia Britannica Book of the Year, 1965: communications.
4. . Archived from the original on 2009-02-18. Retrieved 2009-01-03.
5. McGuire, James (1997). Peronism Without Peron: Unions, Parties, and Democracy in Argentina. Stanford University Press.
6. "Murió el ingeniero Emilio Olmos". La Nación.
7. Nohlen, Dieter (2005). Elections in the Americas: A Data Handbook. Vol. II: South America. Nueva York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-928358-3.
8. Cantón, Darío (1968). Materiales para el estudio de la sociología política en la Argentina (PDF). Vol. Tomo I. Buenos Aires: Centro de Investigaciones Sociales - Torcuato di Tella Institute. pp. 227–232.
9. (PDF). Ministry of Interior - Subsecretaría de Asuntos Políticos y Electorales. December 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 September 2014.
10. Elecciones (PDF). Estudios e Investigaciones Nº7. Vol. I. Dirección de Información Parlamentaria del Congreso de la Nación. April 1993. p. 225. ISBN 950-685-009-7.