Politics of Argentina

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Politics of Argentina
Vice President of Argentina & President of the Senate
Lower house
NameChamber of Deputies
Presiding officerMartín Menem
Executive branch
Head of State and Government
TitlePresident
CurrentlyJavier Milei
Cabinet
Current cabinetCabinet of Javier Milei
HeadquartersCasa Rosada
Ministries10
Judicial branch
NameJudiciary of Argentina
Supreme Court
Chief judgeHoracio Rosatti
Politics of Argentina
Executive
Legislative
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    The politics of Argentina take place in the framework of what the

    Argentine National Congress. The Judiciary is independent, as are the Executive and the Legislature. Elections take place regularly on a multi-party system
    .

    In the 20th century,

    military rule.[1]

    Following a

    transition that began in 1983,[4] full-scale democracy in Argentina was reestablished.[1][2] Argentina's democracy endured through the 2001–02 crisis and to the present day; it is regarded as more robust than both its pre-1983 predecessors and other democracies in Latin America.[2]

    National government

    The government structure of Argentina is a democracy; it contains the three branches of government.[5]

    Executive branch

    The current Chief of State and Head of Government is

    executive power
    .

    Legislative branch

    Legislative Branch is a bicameral

    Congress, which consists of the Senate (72 seats), presided by the vice-president, and the Chamber of Deputies (257 seats), currently presided by Martín Menem of the La Rioja Province. The General Auditing Office of the Nation and the Ombudsman are also part of this branch. Deputies serve for 4 years, while Senators serve for 6 years.[7]

    Chamber of Deputies and the Senate
    .

    Judiciary branch

    The Judiciary Branch is composed of federal judges and others with different jurisdictions, and a Supreme Court with five judges, appointed by the President with approval of the Senate, who may be deposed by Congress.[8]

    Supreme Court of Argentina.

    Provincial and municipal governments

    Further information: Government of Argentina

    Argentina is divided into 23

    CABA, inside the Buenos Aires province. Because of Argentina’s federal structure, every province has its own constitution, and authorities.[9]

    Each province, except for Buenos Aires Province, is divided into departments (departamentos), or districts, which are in turn divided into municipalities. The Buenos Aires Province is different, its territory is divided into 134 districts called partidos, not municipalities.[9]

    Through Law 27589 decreed in 2020, 24 Alternate Federal Capitals are established in Argentina, which constitutes the country consolidating with a total of 25 Federal Capitals. Among them, the main administrative and autonomous Federal Capital, which is the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, plus 24 Alternate Federal Capitals, one of which represents the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires (AMBA) and each of the remaining 23 is located in a different province on behalf of the same. In the 24 Alternate Federal Capitals, the industrial offices of the province are established in representation, where the negotiations in question are carried out. In addition, as part of the conditions established by law, the government must move to one of the Alternate Federal Capitals each month.[citation needed]

    History

    Argentina's first government, autonomous from the Spanish Crown, can be traced back to May 1810 and the May Revolution, where an assembly of Argentines, called Primera Junta, took power.[10] Because at the time it was difficult to find the right form of government, and even more difficult to consolidate a Republic, Argentina experimented with different forms of assembly, like juntas and triumvirates.[10] The 9th of July 1816, half of Argentina's provinces signed a declaration of independence.[11] The beginnings of Argentine state building were rough and many provinces refused to answer to a central government and sign the first constitution of 1826. In 1853, after several years of centralist power, a new constitution was passed, this one consolidated, almost fully, the Argentine Nation. Buenos Aires, still refused to be considered part of the country. After the Battle of Pavón in 1861, Buenos Aires set terms for its inclusion in the Constitution and the Republic of Argentina was born, with Bartolome Mitre as the President.[10]

    Argentina is an example where institutional instability was established after an initial period of historical contingencies. Some random insignificant historical event favors one set of institutions at the beginning. Organizations became dependent on the framework of current institutions and made further investments to profit, making it undesirably costly to switch to other types of institutions.[12] This means that the other potentially better alternative will be unable to catch up later.[13] Consequently, increasing returns gradually locks the economy (or political institutions) to an outcome that is not necessarily superior. People altered their expectations and stopped investing in the system as the country experienced decades of regime changes after the 1930s, seeing both rules and rule-making processes being repeatedly overturned.[14]

    Weakly enforced institutions are by design in some cases for domestic support.[15] For example, anti-abortion was a punitive law in Argentina because many people recognize it as morally legitimate. The government put no resources into enforcing the rules, which allows the middle class to abort pregnancies in private clinics.[16] On the other hand, strong enforcement might undermine the stability of regimes. Between 1930 and 1943, Argentine conservatives maintained power via fraud-ridden elections. After 1943, electoral rules were followed, leading to powerful actors repeatedly modifying the electoral institutions for their benefit.[17]

    Liberal state

    From 1852 until 1930 Argentina experienced liberal government with first oligarchic and then democratic tendencies.[18] From 1852 to 1916 the government, run by the landowning elite, controlled the outcome of elections by committing fraud. This was contested by the rising middle-class and working-class sectors. This fueled the creation of more unions and political parties, including the Radical Civic Union (UCR), which represented the emergent middle-class.[18] In 1912, Law 8871, or the Sáenz Peña Law established universal, secret and obligatory male suffrage, which marked the middle classes entering the government, and displacing the landowning elite.[19]

    Welfare state

    Since the 1930s

    military regimes. In 1930, the elected president Hipolito Yrigoyen was ousted by a right-wing led coup.[10] In 1931 the new government held controlled elections and blocked the participation of Yrigoyen's party. This alleged elections gave way to the Concordancia, a three-party regime. They controlled the Argentine government, through fraud and rigged elections, until 1943.[10] Several factors, including the deaths of the most prominent leaders and World War II, led to another coup that ended the Concordancia regime.[10] This coup was led by the army, which supported the Axis powers, and modeled the new government after Italy's fascist regime.[18] Among the military leaders was Juan Perón, who was in charge of the Secretariat of Labor and Social Welfare. He veered off the path set by the conservative army and set forth to improve the living and working conditions of workers, including giving Labor Unions support and governmental positions. He was jailed briefly, but after mass protests, he became president in the elections of 1946. His regime is known as a populist one, aided by the figure of his second wife, Eva Perón, or "Evita". Their regime produced economic growth and improvements on living and working conditions. It also passed female suffrage (1947), and nationalized the central bank, electricity and gas, urban transport, railroads, and the telephone.[18] After the death of his wife, Perón started losing support. He was ousted in 1955 by another coup. Peronism lives on in Argentina. The next stage of the Social State was one characterized by both economic and political instability.[18] Peron regained power in 1973, but died a year later. His third wife, Isabel, became president. She could not run the country and the military took power once again in 1976.[18]

    Neoliberal state

    Alianza, led by the UCR, won election. This marked the first time in decades that an Argentine president properly finished his term and passed on his charge to another democratically elected president.[citation needed
    ]

    De la Rúa mismanaged the

    ballotage system). Kirchner took office on 25 May 2003. In December 2007 he stepped down to allow his wife Cristina Fernández de Kirchner to win election in his place.[citation needed
    ]

    Elections and voting

    Main article: Elections in Argentina

    Elections

    Elections in Argentina have been regular since the reinstitution of democracy in 1983. Because it is a "federal" republic Argentina has national, provincial, municipal and Ciudad de Buenos Aires elections.[20] For legislative positions elections are every two years, and for the executive power and governors every 4.[20]

    Apart from General elections, and ballotage, Argentines also vote in P.A.S.O. elections (Primary, open, simultaneous, and obligatory elections). This is an instance before every type of election, to decide which candidates will participate in the general elections. Political parties need to get at least 1,5% of valid votes to compete in general elections.[21]

    There are 16,508 elected public service positions. In the National level: President and Vice President, 72 senators and 257 deputies. In the Provincial level: 48 positions for Governor and Deputy Governor, 232 senators, 944 deputies and 72 other elective positions in the provinces of Tierra del Fuego, Córdoba, Mendoza, and La Pampa. Out of the 23 provinces and CABA, 15 have unicameral legislatures, they do not have senatorial elections, and 9 have bicameral legislatures. In the Municipal level: 1.122 mayors and 8.488 city councils. Other authorities add up to 5.271 positions, such as the ones in municipal commissions in 10 provinces, and members of school commissions and accounts tribunals in 5 provinces.[22]

    In 2017 Argentina passed a bill that imposed gender parity in national elections in order to reach equal participation in Congress. The bill stipulates that all the lists of candidates for Congress must alternate between male and female candidates, and that half of the list of candidates for national positions have to be made up of women.[23]

    Voting

    In Argentina voting is obligatory for any Argentine, either native or naturalized, that is 18 years old. In November 2012, the government passed a new law that allowed Argentines between the ages of 16–18 to vote optionally.[24]

    In the 2015 national elections, voter turnout was particularly high: Chamber of Deputies 74.18%, Senate 79.83%, Presidential (1st Round) 78.66%, Presidential (2nd Round) 80.90%.[25]

    Political parties

    For other political parties, see List of political parties in Argentina. An overview on elections and election results is included in Elections in Argentina.

    Political parties

    Argentina's two largest political parties are the Justicialist Party (Partido Justicialista, PJ), which evolved out of Juan Perón's efforts in the 1940s to expand the role of labor in the political process (see Peronism), and the Radical Civic Union (Unión Cívica Radical, UCR), founded in 1891. Traditionally, the UCR had more urban middle-class support and the PJ more labor support, but as of 2011 both parties are broadly based. Most of the numerous political parties that emerged in the past two decades have their origins or even the bulk of their identity tied to them.

    Smaller parties occupy various positions on the political spectrum and a number of them operate only in certain districts. In the years after Perón's first years in office, several provincial parties emerged, often as a vehicle for the continued activities of Peronists, whose party was then banned, or as coalitions of politicians from all sectors wishing to take forward provincial interests. Provincial parties grew in popularity and number after the return of democracy in 1983, and took several of the provincial governor positions. Both these parties and the provincial branches of the UCR and PJ have frequently been dominated by modern caudillos and family dynasties, such as the Sapags of Neuquén and the Rodríguez Saá's of San Luis. This has in turn been a factor in the ongoing factionalism within the two principal parties at national and local levels.

    Historically, the organized labor (largely tied to the Justicialist Party) and the armed forces have also played significant roles in national life. Labor's political power was significantly weakened by free market reforms during the 1990s, as well as the cooptation of its leaders by the Menem administration. They now seem to be returning to their former position, since the current government focuses on a productive model with local industry as one of the top priorities.

    The armed forces are firmly under

    civilian control. Repudiated by the public after a period of military rule marked by human rights
    violations, economic decline, and military defeat, the Argentine military today is a downsized, volunteer force focused largely on international peacekeeping. While Menem and de la Rúa simply reduced their funding, Kirchner has effected an "ideological cleansing", removing a large portion of the top ranks and replacing them with younger leaders with an explicit commitment to preserve human rights and submit to the decisions of the civilian government.

    A grouping of left-leaning parties and dissident Peronists –the

    serious economic crisis and riots, President Fernando de la Rúa
    resigned on December 21, 2001, leaving the UCR reputation severely damaged. The centennial party lost many of its supporters and a bunch of smaller parties emerged from its ashes.

    Two of them scored well in the

    Province of Tierra del Fuego
    , becoming the first governor belonging to this party.

    The other splinter UCR party, called

    Chief of government of Buenos Aires Autonomous City
    .

    Since the

    Civic and Social Agreement
    (Acuerdo Cívico y Social, ACyS).

    For the

    Province of Buenos Aires. After the defeat of FPV in the 2015 presidential elections, Cristina Kirchen decided to form another party called Citizen's Unity. She ran as senator of Santa Cruz with this party and won.[26]

    Latest presidential elections

    Summary of the 2023 Argentine general election

    CandidateRunning matePartyFirst roundSecond round
    Votes%Votes%
    Sergio MassaAgustín RossiUnion for the Homeland9,853,49236.7811,598,72044.35
    Javier MileiVictoria VillarruelLa Libertad Avanza8,034,99029.9914,554,56055.65
    Patricia BullrichLuis PetriJuntos por el Cambio6,379,02323.81
    Juan SchiarettiFlorencio RandazzoHacemos por Nuestro País1,802,0686.73
    Myriam BregmanNicolás del CañoWorkers' Left Front722,0612.70
    Total26,791,634100.0026,153,280100.00
    Valid votes26,791,63496.8626,153,28096.79
    Invalid votes451,4861.63450,7461.67
    Blank votes415,7371.50417,5741.55
    Total votes27,658,857100.0027,021,600100.00
    Registered voters/turnout35,854,12277.1435,405,39876.32
    Source: [27][28][29]

    Policy

    Policy in Argentina after the several military dictatorships has been varied and has aimed at stabilizing the country. As stated above, Argentina's politics do not lead to a particular side, but instead take the country in many directions. Since the last

    Alfonsín took office in 1983 and his main task was to ensure a peaceful transition. In the end he was overcome by an economic crisis that led to a bout of hyperinflation
    .

    After

    YPF), airline (Aerolíneas Argentinas
    ), railroads and utilities. As a result, large foreign direct investment flowed into Argentina for a short time, improving in some isolated cases the infrastructure and quality of service of those companies. His policies culminated in the highest unemployment rates of Argentine history and the doubling of external debt.

    In the social arena, Menem pardoned military officers serving sentences for human rights abuses of the Dirty War. To balance the unpopular decision, he also pardoned some of the insurgents convicted of guerrilla attacks in the 1970s. The public scandal after the assassination of the soldier Omar Carrasco forced Menem to end compulsory military conscription.

    Menem's administration was regarded by many[

    Supreme Court, and displayed a certain contempt for political minorities. Moreover, it did nothing to reduce political corruption and inefficiency, one of the most important and oldest problems in the Argentine government (Argentina's Corruption Perceptions Index for 1999 was 3 out of 10, ranking 71st in a survey of 99 countries)."Transparency International (TI)1999 Corruption Perceptions Index"
    . Internet Center for Corruption Research.

    FrePaSo
    ministers of the administration, elected on a wave of hope for social changes, also disappointed with a perceived lack of investment in social schemes.

    Keynesian
    economic principles to stabilize the economy and bring peace to the streets.

    quota
    system).

    Cristina Fernández de Kirchner came after her husband with even more liberal policies. She strictly imposed import regulations to encourage local production and exports. She started talks with financial officials to pay off Argentina's debt and promised foreign investment. In 2012, the move to nationalize YPF, an oil firm, scared off the foreign investors.[30] She launched a conditional cash transfer program as well, called Asignación Universal por Hijo (AUH), which provided financial incentives to low-income or poor citizens for them to send their children to school and get vaccinated. During her presidency, same-sex marriage was legalized, and a new law was passed that allowed name and sex change in official documents for transgender people, even if they had not undergone sex reassignment surgery.[31]

    Mauricio Macri was elected in 2015 and he came in as a more conservative politician. Besides this, he did not implement any conservative policy. He only cut subsidies to the energy, but did not cut taxes, did not cut federal spending, did not reduce the national deficit and did not try to free the market. Because of his inability to take in serious reforms, he ordered a 50 billion dollar bailout to the IMF in order to restore the economy, which is currently in an economic crisis.[32]

    On 10 December 2019, the Centre-Left Alberto Fernández of the Justicialist Party was inaugurated President, after defeating the incumbent Mauricio Macri in the 2019 Argentine general election.[33]

    On 14 November 2021, the center-left coalition of Argentina's ruling Peronist party, Frente de Todos (Front for Everyone), lost its majority in Congress, for the first time in almost 40 years, in midterm legislative elections. The election victory of the center-right coalition, Juntos por el Cambio (Together for Change), meant a tough final two years in office for President Alberto Fernandez. Losing control of the Senate made it difficult for him to make key appointments, including to the judiciary. It also forced him to negotiate with the opposition every initiative he sends to the legislature.[34][35]

    In April 2023, President Alberto Fernandez announced that he will not seek re-election in the next presidential election.[36] The 19 November 2023 election run-off vote ended in a win for far-right outsider Javier Milei with close to 56% of the vote against 44% of the ruling coalition candidate Sergio Massa.[37] On 10 December 2023, Javier Milei was sworn in as new president of Argentina.[38] At the time of Milei’s inauguration, Argentina’s economy was suffering 143 percent annual inflation, the currency had plunged and four out of 10 Argentines were in poverty.[39]

    Abortion

    In March 2018, a draft for an abortion law was debated in Parliament. The law allowed legal abortion until the 14th week of pregnancy if pregnant women were in danger of physical, psychological or social danger as well as pregnancy caused by rape or invalid fetuses. On 14 June, Parliament accepted the law with a slim majority of 129–123. The debates surrounding the bill caused demonstrations of supporters and opponents. The question of abortion is still contentious in society due to the strong influence of the Catholic Church.[40]

    Political pressure groups

    Some of the most important political-pressure groups in Argentina include: the

    Roman Catholic Church; students.[41]

    See also

    References

    1. ^ a b c Robinson, James; Acemoglu, Daron (2006). Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. 7–8.
    2. ^
      ISBN 0271046341
      .
    3. doi:10.5129/001041523X16729343375086
      .
    4. ^ Anderson, Leslie E. (2016). Democratization by Institutions: Argentina's Transition Years in Comparative Perspective. University of Michigan Press. p. 15.
    5. ^ "Argentina: A South American Power Struggles for Stability". Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
    6. ^ "Alberto Fernández asumió la presidencia". Casarosada.gob.ar (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-10-12.
    7. ^ "Dirección Nacional Electoral (DINE)". Argentina.gob.ar (in Spanish). 2 May 2017. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
    8. ^ "Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Nación Argentina | Gobierno Abierto Judicial". www.csjn.gov.ar. Retrieved 2018-10-01.
    9. ^ a b "City Mayors: Local government in Argentina". www.citymayors.com. Retrieved 2018-11-17.
    10. ^
      ISBN 0313312567
      .
    11. ^ "Acta de la Independencia de Argentina: 9 de julio de 1816 • El Sur del Sur". El Sur del Sur (in European Spanish). 2016-06-25. Retrieved 2018-11-17.
    12. ISBN 9780511808678
      .
    13. JSTOR 2234208
      – via JSTOR.
    14. ISBN 9780511818219
      .
    15. doi:10.1146/annurev.polisci.11.091106.121756
      .
    16. ISBN 9780511615627
      .
    17. doi:10.1016/j.eeh.2009.09.002
      .
    18. ^
      ISBN 978-0-8133-5050-9
      .
    19. ^ "Sáenz Peña Law | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2018-10-15.
    20. ^ a b "Constitución Nacional". 2013-04-12. Archived from the original on 2013-04-12. Retrieved 2018-11-17.
    21. ^ "Electores Preguntas Frecuentes" (PDF). Argentina Gobierno.
    22. ^ "Hay 16.508 cargos electivos en la Argentina". www.nuevamayoria.com. Retrieved 2018-11-17.
    23. ^ "Lawmakers Impose Gender Parity in Argentina's Congress, By Surprise | Inter Press Service". www.ipsnews.net. December 2017. Retrieved 2018-11-17.
    24. ^ "Sin la oposición y en una sesión polémica, el kirchnerismo convirtió en ley el voto joven en Diputados" (in Spanish). 2012-10-31. Retrieved 2018-11-17.
    25. ^ "IFES Election Guide | Country Profile: Argentina". www.electionguide.org. Retrieved 2018-11-17.
    26. ^ Clarín.com. "Cristina Kirchner candidata: relanza Unidad Ciudadana y se planta ante los tres PJ" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2018-11-17.
    27. ^ "Consulta de Escrutinios Definitivos". www.padron.gob.ar. Archived from the original on 23 September 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
    28. ^ "Actas de escrutinio definitivo - GENERALES 2023". Cámara Nacional Electoral. Archived from the original on 23 November 2023. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
    29. ^ "Actas de escrutinio definitivo - SEGUNDA VUELTA 2023". Cámara Nacional Electoral. Archived from the original on 5 December 2023. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
    30. ^ "The CFK psychodrama". The Economist. Retrieved 2018-11-17.
    31. ^ "Five Years of Presidency, What Should be Remembered of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner?". Retrieved 2018-11-17.
    32. ^ Price Waterhouse & Co. "The Macri Administration: Into the second part of the Presidential Term" (PDF).
    33. ISSN 0261-3077
      . Retrieved 2020-05-02.
    34. ^ "Peronists may lose Argentina Congress for first time in 40 years". www.aljazeera.com.
    35. ^ Bronstein, Hugh; Misculin, Nicolás (15 November 2021). "Argentina's Peronists on the ropes after bruising midterm defeat". Reuters.
    36. ^ "Argentina's President Fernandez will not seek re-election". www.aljazeera.com.
    37. ^ "Javier Milei: Argentina's far-right outsider wins presidential election". BBC News. 2023-11-19. Retrieved 2023-11-24.
    38. ^ "Javier Milei: New president tells Argentina 'shock treatment' looms". 2023-12-11. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
    39. ^ "Argentina's newly sworn-in President Milei warns of shock adjustment to economy". PBS NewsHour. 2023-12-10. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
    40. ISBN 978-3-596-72019-4
      .
    41. ^ "Argentina Political pressure groups and leaders - Government". www.indexmundi.com. Retrieved 2018-10-19.

    External links

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