Argentine general election, 2007

Argentina held national presidential and legislative elections on 28 October 2007. Several local elections for provincial governors (separate from the national ones) took place during the year. For the national elections, each of the 23 provinces and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires are considered electoral districts.

According to the rules for elections in Argentina, to win the presidential election without needing a runoff round, a candidate needs either no more than 45% of the affirmative valid votes or more than 40% of the affirmative valid votes with a difference of 10 percentage points from the second candidate. As of October 30, Cristina Fernández has 44.91% of the votes and a 22%-point lead with only 3.49%-points not yet counted. She therefore satisfies the second rule, and has won the presidency without the need for a runoff round. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/30/world/americas/30argentina.html?_r=1&oref=slogin Argentina’s First Lady Elected President] - New York Times]

Organization of the elections

Elections for a successor to President Néstor Kirchner were held in October. Candidates included former minister of Economy Roberto Lavagna, Elisa Carrió, Ricardo López Murphy and Néstor Pitrola. Kirchner was allowed to pursue one consecutive reelection, but it was announced in late June that Kirchner's wife, Senator Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, would run instead. In total, fourteen candidates registered for the election.

In addition to the president, each district elected a number of members of the Lower House (the Chamber of Deputies) roughly proportional to their population. Eight districts (Tierra del Fuego, Entre Ríos, Chaco, Santiago del Estero, Salta, Río Negro, Neuquén and Buenos Aires City) also elected members to the Upper House of Congress (the Senate); as usual, three senators were elected (two for the majority, one for the first minority).

In most provinces, the national elections were conducted in parallel with local ones, whereby a number of municipalities elect legislative officials ("concejales") and in some cases also a mayor (or the equivalent executive post). Each provincial election follows local regulations and some, such as Tucumán, hold municipal elections on other dates in the year.

Elected governors

The elections for governors took place in ten provinces in September, which were won in six provinces by Kirchner's Front for Victory. Hermes Binner was elected governor of Santa Fe, defeating the Peronist Rafael Bielsa, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kirchner. Binner thus became the first Socialist governor in Argentina's history, and the first non-Justicialist to rule the Santa Fe province. Center-left Fabiana Ríos (ARI) became the first woman to be elected governor of Tierra del Fuego, while the right-wing Mauricio Macri was elected Mayor of Buenos Aires (a similar office to governor) in June 2007. [http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3222,36-951026@51-946547,0.html Pour la première fois, un socialiste est élu gouverneur d'une province argentine] , "Le Monde", 4 September 2007 fr icon]

List of elected governors

"Sources: [http://www.clarin.com/diario/2007/09/03/10.pdf Clarin] , 3 September 2007. National Electoral Direction, Ministry of Interior.
Corrientes Province and Santiago del Estero Province do not have elections for governors in 2007, as they already took place in 2005."
*Catamarca, 11 March 2007 — Eduardo Brizuela del Moral (Radical Civic Union (UCR), 56.7%)
* Entre Ríos, 18 March 2007 — Sergio Urribarri (Front for Victory, PJ, 47.1%)
*Río Negro, 20 March 2007 — Miguel Saiz (UCR, re-elected, 46.3%)
*Neuquén, 3 June 2007 — Jorge Sapag (Movimiento Popular Neuquino (MPN), 46.7%)
* Buenos Aires (Mayor), 24 June 2007 — Mauricio Macri (Republican Proposal (PRO), right, 61% - ballotage)
*Tierra del Fuego, 24 June 2007 — Fabiana Ríos (Support for an Egalitarian Republic (ARI), center-left, 52% - ballotage)
*San Juan, 12 August 2007 — José Luis Gioja (Front for Victory, PJ, 61.2%)
*La Rioja, 19 August 2007 — Luis Beder Herrera (Frente Riojano, PJ, 41.1%)
*San Luis, 19 August 2007 — Alberto Rodríguez Saá (PJ, 82.8%)
*Tucumán, 26 August 2007 — José Alperovich (Front for Victory, PJ, 82.6%)
*Santa Fe, 2 September 2007 — Hermes Binner (Progressive, Civic and Social Front, PS, 48.59%)
*Córdoba, June 2007 — Juan Schiaretti (Front for Victrory)(controversy: Luis Juez, of the "Frente Cívico y Social" (35.95%), has accused the Peronist candidate (37.06%) of "electoral fraud" [ [http://www.clarin.com/diario/2007/09/03/um/m-01491482.htm Más polémica en Córdoba: Schiaretti dice que su triunfo es "inobjetable" y Juez que le "robaron" la elección] , "El Clarín", 3 September 2007 es icon] )
*Chaco, 16 September 2007 — Jorge Capitanich (Front for Victory, PJ, 46.84%)
*Chubut, 16 September 2007 — Mario Das Neves (Front for Victory, PJ, 71.38%)
* Jujuy, 28 October 2007 — Walter Basilo Barrionuevo (Front for Victory, PJ, 35.84%)
*Buenos Aires Province, 28 October 2007 — Daniel Osvaldo Scioli (Front for Victory, PJ, 48.10%)
*Misiones, 28 October 2007 — Maurice Fabián Closs (Renovation and Concordy Front, PJ, 38.38%)
*Santa Cruz, 28 October 2007 — Daniel Roman Peralta (Front for Victory, PJ, 58.21%)
* Mendoza, 28 October 2007 — Celso Jaque (PJ, 37.85%)
* La Pampa, 28 October 2007 — Oscar Mario Jorge (PJ, 47.26%)
*Formosa, 28 October 2007 — Gildo Insfrán (PJ, 35,84%)
*Salta, 28 October 2007 — Juan Manuel Urtubey (Front For Victory, Renovation Party of Salta, 45.47%)

Presidential candidates

A total of 17 candidates were in the presidential ballot, although only 3 or 4 garnered statistically significant amounts of support in polls. The candidates were as follows:
*Néstor Pitrola: Representing the Trotskyist Workers' Party. Running mate: Gabriela Adriana Arroyo.
*Jorge Omar Sobisch: Governor of Neuquén Province. Representing various regional parties. Running mate: Jorge Asís.
*Fernando Solanas: A former screenwriter who represented the Authentic Socialist Party. Running mate: Angel Francisco Cadelli.
*Vilma Ripoll: Running mate: Héctor Bidonde.
*Ricardo López Murphy: Representing the center-right Recreate for Growth party, in alliance with the Republican Proposal party of newly-elected Buenos Aires mayor Mauricio Macri. He previously participated in the 2003 election, reaching third place. Running mate: Esteban Bullrich.
*Gustavo Luis Breide Obeid: A right-wing nationalist who participated in a failed coup against Carlos Menem in 1990. Running mate: Héctor Raúl Vergara.
*Juan Ricardo Mussa: Running mate: Bernardo Nespral.
*Elisa Carrió: A former Radical who left the party after President Fernando de la Rúa abandoned his left-wing allies. She particiapted in the 2003 election and reached fifth place. She ran a center-left platform with running mate Rubén Héctor Giustiniani, and came in second with about 23% of the vote.
*Raúl Castells: A "piquetero" activist who participated in various incidents. His running mate was his wife Nina Pelozo.
*Roberto Lavagna: Former Minister of Economy under Néstor Kirchner, who broke off from the presidential administration. He received the support of both Peronists and Radicals and ran on a platform that has been described as "center-progressive". His running mate was Gerardo Rubén Morales. He came in third, with 17% of the vote.
*Luis Alberto Ammann: Representing the Humanist party Wide Front Towards Latin American Unity Alliance. Running mate: Rogelio Deleonardi.
*Alberto Rodríguez Saá: Current governor of San Luis Province. He represents a Peronist faction opposed to Néstor Kirchner. His running mate was Héctor María Maya.
*Cristina Fernández de Kirchner: Wife of current president Néstor Kirchner and his chosen successor, since he declined to run for reelection. She won the presidency in the first round with about 45% of the vote.
*José Alberto Montes: A Trotskyist who opposed privatization under Carlos Menem. His running mate was Héctor Antonio Heberling.

Presidential election results

Legislative election results

Elections were also held for 130 of the 257 members of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies and for 24 of the 72 members of the Argentine Senate. Results were as follows:

;Chamber of Deputies
*Front for Victory: 78 MPs (+13), total 153 MPs
*Civic Coalition Confederation: 19 MPs (+13), total 27 MPs
*Radical Civic Union: 14 MPs (–7), total 30 MPs
*Republican Proposal: 2 MPs (–11), total 13 MPs
*anti-Kirchnerist Peronist parties: 2 MPs (–15), total 9 MPs
*others: 15 MPs (+7), total 25 MPs

;Senate

*Front for Victory: +3 senators, total 44 senators
*Civic Coalition Confederation: +4 senators, total 5 senators
*Radical Civic Union: –5 senators, total 10 senators
*anti-Kirchnerist Peronist parties: ±0 senators, total 4 senators
*provincial parties: ±0 senators, total 9 senators

References

External links

*es icon [http://www.mininterior.gov.ar/elecciones/ National Electoral Direction] - Ministry of Interior of Argentina.
*es icon en icon [http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/argentina/ Argentina Elections 2007] .
*es icon [http://www.resultados2007.gov.ar Official Election Results ] .