Argentine general election, 1946

24 February 1946 (1946-02-24)



Candidate	Juan Perón	José Tamborini
Party	Labour Party	Democratic Union
Alliance		Radical Civic Union
Home state	Buenos Aires	Buenos Aires
Running mate	Hortensio Quijano	Enrique Mosca
Electoral vote	299	66
Popular vote	1.487.866	1,207,080
Percentage	52.84%	42.87%

President of Argentina before election

Edelmiro Julián Farrell

Elected President

Juan Perón
Labour Party

The Argentine general election of 1946, the last for which only men were enfranchised, was held on 24 February. Voters chose both the President and their legislators and with a turnout of 83.4%, it produced the following results:

President

Party/Electoral Alliance	Votes	Percentage	Electoral College
Labour Party	1,487,866	52.8%	299
Democratic Union (Alliance of the Radical Civic Union (UCR), Socialist Party, conservatives and Communist Party)	1,207,080	42.9%	66
National Democratic Party	43,499	1.5%
Others	77,307	2.7%
Positive votes	2,855,192	99.2%	365
Blank and nullified votes	23,735	0.8%	11 ^a
Total votes	2,878,927	100.0%	376

^aAbstentions.

Argentine Chamber of Deputies

Party/Electoral Alliance	Seats	% of votes
Labour Party	101	43.7%
Radical Civic Union (UCR)	44	27.6%
Democratic Union (allied to the UCR)	5	13.9%
Others	8	14.8%
Total	158	100.0%

^[1]

Background

Conservative rule, maintained through electoral fraud despite a moderate record, was brought to an end in a June 1943 coup d'état. Barking "orders of the day" every morning on the radio, the new regime enjoyed little approval. The devastating 1944 San Juan earthquake presented an opportunity to regain lost goodwill and the regime moved quickly, involving the private sector through nationwide fund-raising, entrusted to the Labor Minister, Juan Perón. Perón enlisted celebrities for the effort, among which was a radio matinee star of middling talent, Eva Duarte, who introduced herself to the Labor Minister by remarking that "nothing's missing, except a touch of Atkinson's". The effort's success and the rise of his ally, Edelmiro Farrell, within the junta, led to Perón's appointment as vice-president, which he leveraged in support of Argentina's struggling labor unions, particularly the CGT.

Supporters of the Democratic Union gather on May Avenue in Buenos Aires. This 1945 alliance of conservatives and leftists was tenuously united only by its opposition to Perón.

Perón's sudden clout led to growing rivalry among his junta colleagues, who had him arrested on October 9, a surprise move outdone by CGT leaders like retail workers' leader Ángel Borlenghi, the slaughterhouses' Cipriano Reyes and Eva Duarte, herself. Organizing a mass (and, at times, violent) demonstration for his release on the Plaza de Mayo, their October 17, 1945, mobilization marked a turning point in Argentine history: the creation of the Peronist movement. Capitulating to the political winds, the junta bestowed presidential powers on Perón, who initiated his program of mass nationalizations of institutions such as the universities and Central Bank. Calling elections for February 1946, Perón's opposition hastily arranged an alliance, the Democratic Union. Many in the centrist Radical Civic Union were steadfastly opposed to this ad hoc union with conservatives and the left, an intrinsic burden compounded by a white paper scathingly critical of Perón released by the U.S. Ambassador, Spruille Braden. The report, accusing Perón of fascist ties, allowed him to marginalize the Democratic Union (and their distinguished, though disastrously-named nominees, José Tamborini and Enrique Mosca – the "tambourine and the fly"). He quickly reframed the argument as one between "Perón or Braden", making this his rallying cry and winning the 1946 elections handily.

Candidates for President

Labor Party: Former Vice-President Juan Perón from Buenos Aires Province
Democratic Union (UCR-led alliance): Former Congressman José Tamborini from the city of Buenos Aires

Perón
Tamborini

Online references

Todo Argentina (Spanish)

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

↑ Nohlen, Dieter. Elections in the Americas. Oxford University Press, 2005.

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