Argentine general election, 2003

Argentine general election, 2003

April 27, 2003

Nominee Néstor Kirchner Carlos Menem Ricardo López Murphy Party Justicialist Party Justicialist Party Recreate for Growth Alliance Front for Victory Front for Loyalty Recreate Federal Movement Home state Santa Cruz La Rioja Buenos Aires Running mate Daniel Scioli Juan Carlos Romero Ricardo Gómez Diez States carried 7 13 CABA Popular vote 4,312,517 4,740,907 3,173,475 Percentage 22.2% 24.5% (forfeited) 16.4%

President before election Eduardo Duhalde Justicialist Party Elected President Néstor Kirchner Justicialist Party

Argentina held presidential and parliamentary elections on Sunday, April 27, 2003. Turnout was 78.2%. No one presidential candidate gained enough votes to win outright, but the scheduled runoff was canceled when first-round winner Carlos Menem pulled out, handing the presidency to runner-up Néstor Kirchner.

Background

For the first time since the return of democracy in 1983, the Justicialist Party (PJ) failed to agree on a single presidential candidate. Three credible Peronist candidates ran in the election: center-right former President Carlos Menem, center-left Santa Cruz Province Governor Néstor Kirchner, and centrist San Luis Province Former president Adolfo Rodríguez Saá.^[1] None were officially supported by the party, though President Eduardo Duhalde publicly endorsed Governor Kirchner on January 15, 2003. The PJ suspended its January 24 convention, opting to allow the three contenders to run on the Peronist mantle. None of the candidates were allowed to use the traditional Peronist iconography in detriment of the others.^[1]

For the first time since 1916, the UCR did not field a presidential candidate.^[1] After the political collapse at the peak of the economic crisis that led to the resignation of President Fernando de la Rúa at the end of 2001, popular support for the UCR was at historically low levels. Two strong former members of the UCR founded parties based on their politics: Congresswoman Elisa Carrió founded a left-of-center party, the ARI, and economist Ricardo López Murphy founded a right-wing one, Recrear.

These five strong candidates were practically tied in all the pre-election polls. Menem obtained the most votes in the first round, but far short of a first-round victory (about 25%), so a runoff election against Kirchner was required, and was scheduled for May 18. However, after two terms in office from 1989 to 1999, Menem's popularity remained very low. All signs pointed to a record victory for Kirchner (polls showed him leading Menem by anywhere from a 35 to a 50% margin).^[2][3][4] Rather than face a humiliating defeat, Menem withdrew from the runoff on May 14, a move that was roundly criticized by the other candidates.^[5][3] The courts refused to authorize a new election, and also refused to sanction a runoff between Kirchner and López Murphy (though the latter let it be known he would not take part in any case). Finally, Congress sanctioned Kirchner as president-elect, with the lowest vote share ever recorded for a president in a free election.

Legislative races

Legislative and gubernatorial elections were held throughout 2003, with polls open in different provinces between April and November; average turnout was 70.8%.^[6]

These elections were unprecedented in their staggered scheduling; indeed, legislators and governors were chosen over 15 different dates, during 2003. They were also, however, a return to political normalcy following a chaotic and economically depressed 2002.

The Justicialist Party, which was divided among three candidates in the presidential race, remained largely united in legislative and local races. They added 12 seats in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies, as well as 2 governorships, and fears of a high number of dissident tickets did not materialize.

The centrist Radical Civic Union, senior partners in the ill-fated Alliance that had returned them to power in 1999, were left with their smallest representation since 1954, though they were not replaced by the center-left ARI in a significant way; the ARI added but 2 Congressmen.

Voters sentiment improved over 2001 levels (when the sentiment among many was that "they should all go"), though not significantly. Turnout increased only modestly, and the use of invalid votes declined from 24% to 15% from the tense 2001 elections. Voters in the important Santa Fe Province, in particular, curbed their use of spoiled ballots from 30% to 20%.^[7]

Kirchner ended 2003 on a more secure footing than before these local and legislative elections. He benefited from allies such as the new governor of the paramount Buenos Aires Province, Felipe Solá, as well as the Mayor of Buenos Aires, Aníbal Ibarra. Argentina celebrated 20 years of continuous democratic rule on December 10, 2003, with a new government carrying generous numbers of allies in Congress and the provinces, as well as voters' high expectations.^[7]

President

 Summary of the 27 April 2003 Argentine presidential election results

Candidates	Nominating parties	1st Round Votes	1st Round%	2nd Round
Carlos Saúl Menem	Front for Loyalty	4,740,907	19.48	abandoned
	Union of the Democratic Centre (Unión del Centro Democrático)		4.97
Néstor Carlos Kirchner	Front for Victory (Frente para la Victoria)	4,312,517	22.24	Winner
Ricardo López Murphy	Recreate for Growth (Recrear para el Crecimiento)	3,173,475	16.37
Adolfo Rodríguez Saá	Front of the Popular Movement (Frente Movimiento Popular)	2,735,829	12.07
	Union and Liberty Party (Partido Unión y Libertad)		2.04
Elisa María Avelina Carrió	Alternative for a Republic of Equals (Alternativa para una República de Iguales)	2,723,574	14.05
Leopoldo Moreau	Radical Civic Union (Unión Civica Radical)	453,360	2.34
Patricia Walsh	United Left (Izquierda Unida)	332,863	1.72
Alfredo Bravo	Socialist Party (Partido Socialista)	217,385	1.12
Total positive votes		19,387,895
Total votes		19,930,111
Source: Ministerio del Interior

Argentine Congress

Party/Electoral Alliance	Lower House Seats	% of votes	Senate
Justicialist Party	129	36.3%	41
UCR	54	14.2%	16
ARI	13	8.0%
Popular Movement for Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires Province)	9	3.9%
Commitment to Change (City of Buenos Aires)	5	4.0%
Strength of Buenos Aires Alliance (City of Buenos Aires)	4	1.5%
Renewal Front Alliance (Misiones Province)	4	1.1%
Neuquén People's Movement (Neuquén Province)	4	0.6%	2
Self-determination and Freedom	4	1.3%
New Front Alliance (Córdoba Province)	3	2.7%	1
Republican Force (Tucumán Province)	3	0.8%	2
Others	25	25.6%	10
Invalid votes		14.5%
Total	257	100.0%	72

^[8][6]

Governors and Mayor of Buenos Aires

Provincial officials in all districts except Corrientes Province, were elected, as well as the Chief of Government of the City of Buenos Aires. The Justicialist Party wrested two governorships from the UCR (Chubut and Entre Ríos Provinces), and the UCR recovered Tierra del Fuego from the Justicialists.^[9]

District	Elected Governor	Party	%	Runner-up	Party	%
Buenos Aires	Felipe Solá	Justicialist	43.3	Luis Patti	Federalist Unity Party	13.3
Catamarca	Eduardo Brizuela del Moral	Civic Social Front (UCR)	50.8	Luis Barrionuevo	Justicialist Front	43.5
Chaco	Roy Nikisch	UCR	53.4	Jorge Capitanich	Front for Victory	40.9
Chubut	Mario Das Neves	Justicialist	45.6	José Lizurume ^L	UCR	41.2
City of Buenos Aires^1	Aníbal Ibarra ^R	Great Front	53.5	Mauricio Macri	Commitment to Change	46.5
Córdoba	José Manuel de la Sota ^R	Justicialist	51.8	Oscar Aguad	UCR	37.2
Entre Ríos	Jorge Busti	Justicialist	44.6	Sergio Varisco	Social Front Alliance	34.4
Formosa	Gildo Insfrán ^R	Justicialist	71.8	Gabriel Hernández	Front for All	24.4
Jujuy	Eduardo Fellner ^R	Justicialist	55.8	Gerardo Morales	UCR	35.2
La Pampa	Carlos Verna	Justicialist	49.1	Francisco Torroba	Alternative Front	25.5
La Rioja	Ángel Maza ^R	Justicialist	55.4	Jorge Yoma	Work and Production Front	43.4
Mendoza	Julio Cobos	UCR	42.9	Guillermo Amstutz	Justicialist	35.7
Misiones	Carlos Rovira ^R	Renewal Front	47.9	Ramón Puerta	Justicialist	32.4
Neuquén	Jorge Sobisch ^R	Neuquén People's Movement	56.1	Aldo Duzdevich	Justicialist	19.9
Río Negro	Miguel Saiz	UCR	32.6	Julio Arriaga	Great Front	20.4
Salta	Juan Carlos Romero ^R	Justicialist	49.7	Andrés Zottos	Salta Renewal Party	24.4
San Juan	José Luis Gioja	Justicialist	41.4	Roberto Basualdo	Life and Commitment Front	30.8
San Luis	Alberto Rodríguez Saá	Justicialist	90.1	Marcelo Shortrede	Fatherland and Family Movement	5.5
Santa Cruz	Sergio Acevedo	Justicialist	70.9	Anselmo Martínez	Convergence for Santa Cruz	27.9
Santa Fe	Jorge Obeid	Justicialist	43.2	Hermes Binner	Socialist Party	38.3
Santiago del Estero^2	Mercedes Aragonés de Juárez ^R	Justicialist	68.1	José Luis Zavalía	UCR	13.0
Tierra del Fuego	Jorge Colazo	UCR	52.8	Carlos Manfredotti ^L	Justicialist	47.2
Tucumán	José Alperovich	Justicialist	44.4	Esteban Jerez	Union for Tucumán	25.8
1: 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 September 15, 2002. R: Reelected. L: Incumbent lost.

References

1. Fraga, Rosendo (2010). Fin de ciKlo: ascenso, apogeo y declinación del poder kirchnerista. Ediciones B. pp. 21–23.
2. "Menem pierde el invicto y la fama". Página/12.
3. Uki Goñi (May 15, 2003). "Menem bows out of race for top job". The Guardian. Retrieved May 22, 2016.
4. "Menem pierde el invicto y la fama". Página/12.
5. Todo Argentina: Kirchner (Spanish)
6. Andy Tow's Electoral Atlas of Argentina
7. Todo Argentina: 2003 (Spanish)
8. Argentine Interior Ministry
9. "Gobernador electo (2003)". Atlas Electoral de Andy Tow.