Argentine legislative election, 1997

Argentina held national parliamentary elections on 26 October 1997. This election was the second time of the peronist Justicialist Party defeated since 1985, while Justicialist Party maintained control of the Congress.

Results

The results were as follows:

Party/Electoral Alliance	Total Seats	Vote Percentage
Justicialist Party	118	36.4%
Alliance for Work, Justice and Education (led by the Radical Civic Union and FrePaSo)	111	45.9%
Regional parties	22	7.2%
Action for the Republic	3	3.1%
others	3	7.4%
Total seats	257

^[1]

Background

President Carlos Menem, who successfully campaigned to have the Argentine Constitution amended in 1994 largely for the sake of being eligible for a second term in office, won the 1995 election in a landslide. The clouds of recession gathered immediately, however, as Argentine business confidence struggled following the shock of the Mexican peso crisis. Unemployment in Argentina, already higher as a result of a wave of imports and sharp gains in productivity after 1990, leapt from 12% to 18% in the first half of 1995 and, as Argentines geared for the 1997 parliamentary mid-term elections two years later, the figure remained around 15% and wages, frozen at their 1994 level.

Themselves beset by sharp divisions over how to confront President Menem, whose longtime pragmatism had given way to increasingly doctrinaire conservatism, the Justicialists' mainstay of support, the CGT labor union, joined smaller unions, leftist activists and the progressive FrePaSo (the runners-up in the 1995 elections) in a series of general strikes beginning August 1996.

Economic problems also led to a sudden increase in crime, particularly property crime, even during the vigorous recovery during 1996-97. Menem's erstwhile "ace of spades," Economy Minister Domingo Cavallo, whose Convertibility Plan was lauded as the reason behind the "Argentine miracle" between 1991 and 1994 (in which the economy, following 16 years of zero growth, expanded by a third), became unpopular during the recession and strained relations with the President after publicly denouncing the influence of "mafias" within the administration. Cavallo was acrimoniously dismissed by the President in July 1996; but the January 1997 murder of Noticias newsmagazine photojournalist José Luis Cabezas and the subsequent implication of transport magnate Alfredo Yabrán in the crime lent credence to Cavallo's accusations and cost the ruling Justicialist Party further approval.

Presented with a unique opportunity following his once mighty party's poor showing at the 1995 polls, former President and UCR leader Raúl Alfonsín negotiated an alliance with the center-left FrePaSo and, though in a number of provinces - including the second-largest (Córdoba) - the UCR and FrePaSo ran on different slates, the Alliance won a majority of congressional seats in 13 of 23 provinces and in the city of Buenos Aires. The results marked the twilight of Menemists' dominance of Argentine politics.^[2]^[3]

References

Elections and referendums in Argentina

Presidential elections	1854 1860 1862 1868 1874 1880 1886 1892 1898 1904 1910 1916 1922 1928 1931 1937 1946 1951 1958 1963 1973 (Mar) 1973 (Sep) 1983 1989 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019

Parliamentary elections	1854 1856 1858 1860 1862 1864 1866 1868 1870 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1931 1934 1936 1938 1940 1942 1946 1948 (Mar) 1948 (Dec) 1951 1954 1957 1958 1960 1962 1963 1965 1973 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1994 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019

Provincial elections	1854 1856 1858 1860 1862 1864 1866 1868 1870 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1931 1934 1936 1937 1938 1940 1942 1946 1948 1951 1954 1957 1958 1960 1962 1963 1965 1973 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2005 2007 2008 2009 2011 2012 2013 2015 2016 2017 2019

Referendums	1984

Carlos Menem

Presidency

Events	Presidential pardons Convertibility plan 1992 attack on Israeli embassy AMIA bombing Pact of Olivos 1994 amendment of the Constitution of Argentina

Elections	1989 general elections 1991 legislative elections 1993 legislative elections 1995 general elections 1997 legislative elections 2003 general elections

Laws	Argentine quota law State reform law

Scandals

Family

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