Elections in Argentina, 2003

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2001 elections

2003 elections

2005 elections

Argentina held a presidential election on Sunday, April 27, 2003. The winning candidate was former Santa Cruz governor Néstor Kirchner.

For the first time since the return of democracy (1983), the Justicialist Party (Partido Justicialista, PJ) failed to agree on his presidential candidate. For that reason three strong candidates from this party were on the ballots (Carlos Menem, the aforementioned Néstor Kirchner, and Adolfo Rodríguez Saá), none of them officially supported by the party.

After the political collapse at the peak of the economic crisis that led to the resignation of President Fernando de la Rúa, the popular support for the Radical Civic Union (Unión Cívica Radical, UCR, traditionally the PJ's opposition) was at its lowest level. Two strong former members of the UCR founded parties based on their political tendencies (Elisa Carrió founded a left-of-center party, the ARI, and 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 not enough to be elected (about 25%), so a runoff voting against Kirchner was required. After two terms in office, Menem's popularity was very low, and anticipating a landslide defeat (the polls favored Kirchner 70%–30%), he finally declined, and Néstor Kirchner became president immediately.

Results

See also
Politics of Argentina
List of political parties in Argentina
External link
[Andy Tow's Election Atlas]: Presidential, Legislative and Gubernatorial elections in Argentina since 1983.






 



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