Presidential and parliamentary elections in Argentina 2011

The 2011 presidential and parliamentary elections in Argentina took place on October 23 of that year. The president and vice-president were elected and, for the National Congress, half of the deputies and a third of the senators (three each in eight provinces ). For the first time, mandatory primaries were held in advance for all parties at the same time .

The incumbent President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner won in the first ballot ; it received almost 54 percent of the votes cast. She was the first head of state in Latin America to be confirmed in office. Its center-left alliance Frente para la Victoria (FPV), which includes the left wing of the Peronists and several small parties, was also strengthened in Congress .

initial situation

The ruling FPV, to which the President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and the left wing of the Partido Justicialista belong, suffered significant losses in the elections in June 2009 and, especially after the conflict with the agricultural associations in 2008 and further scandals, also lost its popularity, but remained the strongest Force in Congress. After the death of Néstor Kirchner in October 2010, surveys showed that the incumbent was very popular.

The FPV majority in Congress reformed the electoral law in 2009, including tightening the entry requirements for small parties to elections. According to the government, this should reduce the large number of parties in the country (over 700) and promote mergers at both provincial and federal levels. Oppositionists criticized that this would strengthen the Peronist Fernández de Kirchner party and the other traditional party, the Unión Cívica Radical , that Argentina was on the way to a de facto two-party system, and that the reform was passed rashly. After the reform, the number of nationally recognized parties was reduced to 37. Another important innovation was the general primaries , modeled on the province of Santa Fe , which take place two months before the election.

Before the primaries there had been numerous rifts in the opposition. Most of the candidates ran in the end for small parties or electoral alliances, only Carrió and the little-known politicians José Bonacci and Sergio Pastore for their actual party.

Primaries

The primaries covered both the presidential candidates and the provincial lists for Congress. They took place on August 14th and were compulsory for all eligible voters . According to the interpretation of the federal judge María Romilda Servini de Cubría, those who did not vote in the area code and did not officially excuse their non-participation (e.g. because of illness or a stay more than 500 kilometers from the voting location) should be excluded from the electoral roll in the actual election become.

At the end of the registration period on June 25, 2011, each party or alliance had entered exactly one candidate for the office of president. In contrast, there was some competition among the candidates for Congress, with competing lists running in many provinces, of which only the strongest was eligible to participate in the actual election in October. According to the new electoral laws, all candidates who can collect less than 1.5% of the votes were eliminated after this primary election, which is why the field of candidates was expected to be thinned out.

The area code was clearly won by Cristina Fernández de Kirchner , who received around 50% of the valid votes. Ricardo Alfonsín and Eduardo Duhalde each followed with around 12%, Hermes Binner with 10% and Alberto Rodríguez Saá with 8%. Elisa Carrió was only able to achieve a fraction of her share of the vote from 2007 (23%) with around 3%. While the lesser-known candidate Jorge Altamira surprisingly surmounted the threshold of 1.5%, the three candidates Alcira Argumedo , Sergio Pastore and José Bonacci failed , who were eliminated from the field. The turnout of over 78% was above expectations.

Result of the primaries (President and Vice President)

Candidate formula be right % Kirchner - Boudou 10,762,217 050.24 Alfonsín - González Fraga 02,614,211 012.20 Duhalde - The Neves 02,595,996 012.12 Binner - Morandini 02.180.110 010.18 Rodríguez Saá - Vernet 01,749,971 008.17 Carrió - Pérez 00.689.033 003.22 Altamira - Castillo 00.527.237 002.46 Argumedo - Cardelli 00.190.094 000.89 Pastore - Rodríguez 00.065,031 000.30 Bonacci - Villena 00.048,774 000.23 Total valid votes 21,422,674 100, 00

Further data be right % Valid votes 21,422,674 094.35 Envelope submitted without voting slip (so-called Voto en blanco ) 01,007,753 004.44 Invalid 00.274,951 001.21 Total number of votes 22,705,378 100, 00 voter turnout 078.67

Presidential election

Candidates

Candidates for the presidential elections (in alphabetical order):

Candidate president	Candidate Vice President	Party alliance	Remarks
Ricardo Alfonsin	Javier González Fraga	Unión Cívica Radical Unión para el Desarrollo Social	The congressman and son of the former president Raúl Alfonsín was considered one of the most promising opposition candidates. He allied himself in advance with the right-wing peronist Francisco De Narváez .
Jorge Altamira	Christian Castillo	Partido Obrero Frente de Izquierda y de los Trabajadores	The Trotskyist socialist had run for office in 1989, 1995, 1999 and 2003, but never received more than 1% of the vote. He was not given any chance of victory in advance.
Hermes Binner	Norma Morandini	Partido Socialista Frente Amplio Progresista	The governor of the economically important province of Santa Fe had negotiated a collaboration and a common formula with Ricardo Alfonsín at the beginning of 2011 , but after Alfonsín's collaboration with Francisco de Narváez, he terminated the collaboration and entered into an alliance with several left regional parties.
Elisa Carrió	Adrián Pérez	Coalición Cívica ARI Coalición Cívica	Carrió had already run as a candidate twice (2003 and 2007) and in 2007 came second. Nevertheless, in 2011 she was given little chance, and in surveys she was in one of the last places.
Eduardo Duhalde	Mario Das Neves	Partido Justicialista , Unión Popular Frente Popular	The Peronist led Argentina through the 2001/02 economic crisis as president. Originally he was supposed to run as the official candidate of the Peronismo Federal , the right wing of the PJ, but he rejected the post with the other aspirant, Alberto Rodríguez Saá, and ultimately stood for the small party Unión Popular .
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner	Amado Boudou	Partido Justicialista Frente para la Victoria	The incumbent president announced her candidacy in June. Since the death of her husband Néstor Kirchner, she has been a big favorite to win the election in the first round. Should a runoff election be necessary, the opposition candidate was given opportunities because of the polarized public opinion.
Alberto Rodríguez Saá	José María Vernet	Partido Justicialista Compromiso Federal	The governor of the province of San Luis and brother of the former president Adolfo Rodríguez Saá belongs to the conservative PJ wing Peronismo Federal , which is dissident with the Kirchner government. He started in 2007. His voters are regionally strongly concentrated in the small province of San Luis and its neighboring provinces, so that he was given little chance.

Eliminated in the area code

Candidate president	Candidate Vice President	Party alliance	Remarks
Alcira Argumedo	Jorge Cardelli	Proyecto Sur Movimiento Proyecto Sur	The independent candidacy of Proyecto Sur came as a surprise because the party leader, the well-known film director Fernando E. Solanas , had initially appeared as a clear ally of Hermes Binner. Disagreements about the division of the lists led to the candidacy under the umbrella of a separate electoral alliance with several small left-wing parties. The sociologist Argumedo was given little chance of winning the election.
José Bonacci	José Villena	Partido del Campo Popular	The little-known politician stood for the right-wing nationalist Partido del Campo Popular of the province of Santa Fe, which emerged from the MODIN .
Sergio Pastore	Gilda Rodríguez	Partido de Acción Vecinal de Córdoba	The party is mainly active in the province of Córdoba and a split from the Partido Justicialista in the province of Córdoba ( Unión por Córdoba ). According to an interview with the almost unknown politician, the Syrian - Lebanese community in Argentina is said to be behind the candidate.

Other politicians who considered running in 2011 but ultimately turned them down were the incumbent Vice-President Julio Cobos (UCR), the Mayor of Buenos Aires, Mauricio Macri ( PRO ), the UCR President Ernesto Sanz and the film director Fernando "Pino" Solanas .

Result

Candidate formula be right % Kirchner - Boudou 11,593,023 053.96 Binner - Morandini 03,624,518 016.87 Alfonsín - González Fraga 02,395,056 011.15 Rodríguez Saá - Vernet 01,714,385 007.98 Duhalde - The Neves 01,264,609 005.89 Altamira - Castillo 00.497,082 002.31 Carrió - Pérez 00.396.171 001.84 Total valid votes 21,484,844 100, 00

Further data be right % Valid votes 21,484,844 095.94 Envelope submitted without voting slip (so-called Voto en blanco ) 00.678.724 003.03 voter turnout 078.89

Opinion polls

Despite some clear differences, the incumbent president came in first place by a large margin in all surveys. The runner-up was mostly Alfonsín, followed by Duhalde, Rodríguez Saá, Binner and Carrió before the primaries. After the primaries, the opposition's mood was shifting away from Duhalde and Alfonsín to Hermes Binner as a potential runner-up, but Fernández de Kirchner's big lead consolidated as a result of her high result.

date	Polling institute	Kirchner	Alfonsin	Duhalde	Rodríguez Saá	Carrió	Binner	Altamira
Before the general area code
Oct 2010	OPSM	35.7%	16%	-	-	-	-	-
Oct 2010	Ibarómetro	44.5%	-	8.1%	-	-	-	-
Nov 2010	Poliarquía Consultores	48%	19%	-	-	-	-	-
Dec 2010	Consultora Equis	44%	6.1%	5.3%	-	-	-	-
Dec 2010	Consultora Analogías	42.3%	17%	-	-	-	-	-
Jan. 2011	OPSM	34%	14%	5%	-	-	-	-
Jan. 2011	Ibarómetro	40%	12.1%	10.4%	-	-	-	-
Feb 2011	Management & Fit	27.1%	6.6%	4.3%	-	-	-	-
Apr. 2011	CEOP	45.9%	10.6%	6.8%	-	3.3%	-	-
Apr. 2011	OPSM	37.2%	14.3%	6.6%	-	7.2%	-	-
May 2011	Ricardo Rouvier y Asociados	49.8%	22.3%	6.6%	6%	4.8%	-	-
May 2011	Ibarómetro	44.6%	12%	-	9%	-	-	-
Jun. 2011	CEOP	48.2%	12.8%	7.5%	5.5%	5.9%	4.3%	-
Jun. 2011	Management & Fit	33.4%	15.3%	5.8%	7%	4%	5.1%	-
Jun. 2011	CEOP	49.8%	10.5%	9.2%	5.2%	4.8%	6.5%	-
After the general area code
Aug 2011	Consultora Equis	52.1%	8.2%	7.6%	9.9%	1.4%	13.4%	1.7%
Sep 2011	Consultora Equis	53.1%	9.2%	8.3%	10.8%	1.0%	16.4%	1.2%
Sep 2011	Nueva Comunicación	51.7%	7.6%	9.1%	8.8%	1.5%	15.8%	1.7%
Sep 2011	Hugo Haime y Asociados	53.1%	12.6%	10.5%	5.6%	1.6%	15.2%	1.5%

Parliamentary elections

In the parliamentary elections, half of the members of the National Congress were renewed. The provinces were each considered to be electoral districts ; in each province the lists had to register individually. Several parties compete in different alliances in different provinces.

At the same time, the three senators in each of the provinces of Buenos Aires , Formosa , Jujuy , La Rioja , Misiones , San Juan , San Luis and Santa Cruz will be renewed. The victorious party has two seats and the largest minority party has one seat; however, if the election winner gets more than twice as many votes as the runner-up, he receives all three seats.

Result

In the parliamentary elections counted at the provincial level, as is customary in Argentina, the Frente para la Victoria prevailed in most provinces. Only in the province of San Luis was an opposition party able to achieve victory , as it did in the presidential elections, Compromiso Federal . In the other provinces where the FPV did not win, the election winners were allied with the government alliance: the regional alliance Frente Renovador de la Concordia in Misiones won with both the senators and the MPs, and in Santiago del Estero the federal government won -FPV affiliated UCR-led Frente Cívico por Santiago . In La Pampa, the Humanist Party won a cooperation partner of the FPV, which had only run for the presidential election there. In La Rioja, the FPV received a majority in the election to the House of Representatives, while the Frente Popular prevailed among the senators thanks to the former president Carlos Menem , who was still popular there.

Overall, the FPV was able to expand its majority, which had shrunk after the 2009 elections.

House of Representatives after the election

The new House of Representatives is composed as follows:

Argentine House of Representatives 2011-2013

block	Chairman	MPs	Orientation or Alliance
Frente para la Victoria - PJ	Agustín O. Rossi	115	Left Peronists, independent Kirchnerists ( La Cámpora and others)
Unión Cívica Radical	Ricardo R. Gil Lavedra	38	radicalism
Front Peronista	Enrique L. Thomas	21st	Dissident Peronists, Right Peronists
PER	Federico Pinedo	11	Conservatives, business liberals
Frente Cívico por Santiago	Daniel A. Brue	7th	Radicales K (radicals close to Kirchnerismo)
Coalición Cívica ARI	Alfonso de Prat Gay	6th	Social democrats
Partido Socialista	Juan C. Zabalza	6th	Social Democrats (Frente Amplio Progresista)
Frente Cívico - Cordoba	Ernesto F. Martínez	5	Social Democrats, Centrists (Frente Amplio Progresista)
GENE	Margarita R. Stolbizer	5	Social Democrats (Frente Amplio Progresista)
Unidad Popular	Claudio R. Lozano	5	Social Democrats (Frente Amplio Progresista)
Nuevo Encuentro	Martín Sabbatella	5	Independent Kirchnerists
Unión Peronista	Felipe C. Solá	3	Right peronists
Proyecto Sur	Fernando E. Solanas	3	Socialists, Social Democrats
Movimiento Popular Neuquino	Alicia M. Comelli	3	Regional alliance, centrists
Partido Justicialista La Pampa	Roberto Robledo	2	Peronists
Cordoba Federal	Francisco J. Fortuna	2	Right peronists
Demócrata de Mendoza	Omar B. de Marchi	2	Centrists
Frente Cívico y Social de Catamarca	Mariana Veaute	2	radicalism
Sole representative note 1	-	14th	-
Non-attached	-	2	-
Total number	-	257	-

^{Note 1} Libres del Sur, Renovador de Salta, Corriente de Pensamiento Federal, Frente Peronista Federal, Partido Federal Fuegino, Salta Somos Todos, Demócrata Progresista, Democracia Igualitaria y Participativa (DIP), Movimiento Popular Fueguino, Socialista del MIJD, Unidad para el Desarrollo Social y la Equidad, Unión por Todos, Unión por San Juan, U.DE.SO Salta

Senate after the election

Senate 2011–2013

Party bloc	MPs
Frente para la Victoria	32
Unión Cívica Radical	14th
Frente Cívico de la Provincia de Córdoba	2
Frente Cívico y Social de Catamarca	2
Justicialista San Luis	2
Justicialista 8 De Octubre	2
Nuevo Encuentro	2
Partido Justicialista La Pampa	2
Sole representative note 2	14th
total	72

^{Note 2} Alianza Coalición Cívica, Federalismo Santafesino, Federalismo y Liberación, Frente Cívico Por Santiago, Frente de Todos, GEN, Movimiento Popular Neuquino, Partido Liberal de Corrientes, Partido Renovador de Salta, Partido Socialista, Produccion y Trabajo, Proyecto Buenos Aires Federal, Santa Fe Federal, Trabajo y Dignidad

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} final result ( memento of the original from September 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at elecciones2011.gov.ar (Spanish; accessed October 24, 2011). 
2. ↑ Argentina: President Cristina Kirchner celebrates landslide victory at Abendblatt.de, October 24, 2011 (accessed October 24, 2011).
3. ↑ A Cristina le sienta bien el negro , El País , July 3, 2011, accessed July 11, 2011
4. ↑ Récord histórico: en la Argentina ya hay más de 700 partidos políticos , La Nación , February 18, 2008, accessed on July 11, 2011
5. ^ Alberto Fernández: “La reforma política trata de fortalecer el bipartidismo” , Info Región, 25 November 2009
6. ^ Con críticas a la Casa Rosada, la oposición cuestiona un posible retorno al bipartidismo , La Nación, October 26, 2009
7. ↑ Rechazo opositor a la reforma política , La Nación, October 27, 2009
8. ↑ Partidos de órden nacional y sus distritos , publication by Cámara Electoral Nacional (PDF), February 2011. Link
9. ↑ Servini de Cubría advirtió que quienes no voten en las primarias no podrán hacerlo en octubre , Ámbito Financiero , 6 July 2011
10. ↑ Preliminary counting of the area code from the official portal of the Argentine government Primarias 2011 ( Memento of the original from 23 August 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on August 15, 2011) 
11. ^ Official final result (PDF) of the primaries, source: Argentine Ministry of Justice. Retrieved September 5, 2011.
12. ↑ Funes tiene candidato a presidente , Funes Justicialista, June 29, 2011
13. ↑ ^{a b} Argentina Elecciones , July 13, 2011
14. ↑ ^{a b} Apareció el candidato cordobés a Presidente , La Voz del Interior, July 24, 2011, accessed on July 29, 2011
15. ^ Néstor Kirchner con 78 puntos de buena imagen , Página / 12 , October 30, 2010
16. ↑ La muerte de Néstor Kirchner revitalizó el kirchnerismo ( Memento of the original of May 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 57 kB) Ibarómetro, October 29, 2010. 
17. ↑ Los números de las encuestas nacionales hoy  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , El Urbano, November 26, 2010.  
18. ↑ Para Equis Cristina K gana en la primera vuelta, con el 44% ( Memento of the original from January 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Ramallo Ciudad, December 23, 2010. 
19. ↑ Cristina Kirchner en primera vuelta  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Diario1588, December 23, 2010.  
20. ↑ Cristina con amplias ventajas para quedarse con la Presidencia de la Nación Informe Corrientes, January 4, 2011.
21. ↑ Cristina se impone como referente para resolver problemas que preocupan a la ciudadanía ( Memento of July 3, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Télam, January 12, 2011.
22. ↑ Cristina Fernández lidera la intención de voto en Argentina, según un sondeo , El Mundo, February 18, 2011.
23. ↑ Para las encuestas, ni siquiera hay campaña , Página / 12, April 4, 2011.
24. ↑ Para las encuestas, ni siquiera hay campaña Página / 12, April 4, 2011.
25. ↑ Cristina alcanza el 50 por ciento de intención de voto ( Memento of the original from May 20, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Argentina.ar, May 2011. 
26. ↑ "Cristina alcanza el 50 por ciento de intención de voto" ( Memento of the original from May 20, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Argentina.ar, May 2011. 
27. ↑ Donde la oposición aún no despega Página / 12 June 2011.
28. ↑ CFK decae en el primer sondeo fuerte agenciacna.com, June 14, 2011.
29. ↑ Intenciones de primera vuelta Página / 12, June 26, 2011.
30. ^ Binner, segundo Página / 12, August 28, 2011.
31. ↑ Con una diferencia que se consolida Página / 12, September 5th 2011th
32. ↑ Elecciones 2011: Cristina crece y Hermes Binner está segundo en las encuestas ( Memento of the original from May 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Uno Santa Fe, September 9, 2011. 
33. ↑ Análisis y expectativas , Página / 12, September 11, 2011.
34. ↑ Final results of the 2011 elections . Website of the Argentine Ministry of the Interior (PDF; 72 kB). Retrieved January 8, 2012
35. ↑ Bloques , website of the Argentine House of Representatives. Retrieved January 8, 2012
36. ↑ Bloques ( Memento of the original from February 23, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Website of the Argentine Senate, accessed March 15, 2012