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Voting in Buenos Aires (Argentina) Before 1912

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Elections before Democracy: The History of Elections in Europe and Latin America

Part of the book series: Institute of Latin American Studies Series ((LASS))

Abstract

The electoral reform of 1912 made the vote secret and compulsory in Argentina for all males over 18 years of age. The reform has been thought of as a dramatic turning point in the country’s political development, as the turning of Argentina into a modern democracy. Previous reference to the electoral life of the pre-reform period has primarily concentrated on describing fraud and violence and, therefore, little is known about many aspects of the pre-1912 elections.

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Notes

  1. For the peculiarities of the city of Buenos Aires, see Paula Alonso, ‘Politics and Elections in Buenos Aires, 1890–1898: The Performance of the Radical Party’, Journal of Latin American Studies, vol. 25 (1993), pp. 465–87.

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  2. On the early history of the suffrage in Argentina, see David Bushnell, ‘El sufragio en la Argentina y en Colombia hasta 1853’, Revista del Instituto de Historia del Derecho, no. 19 (1968), pp. 11–29; Hilda Sábato and Elías Palti, ‘¿Quién votaba en Buenos Aires?: Práctica y teoría del sufragio, 1850–1880’, Desarrollo Económico, vol. 30, no. 119 (Oct-Dec. 1990), pp. 407–22; Diana A. Tussie and Andrés M. Federman, ‘La larga marcha hacia las urnas’, Todo es Historia, vol. 1, no. 71 (March 1973), pp. 9–47.

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  3. At least until discussion about the extension of the franchise to women in the 1930s and 1940s.

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  4. J. N. Matienzo, La práctica del sufragio popular. Breve estudio sobre la ley electoral argentina (Buenos Aires, 1886), p. 5.

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  5. N. Botana, El orden conservador. La politica argentina entre1880 y 1916 (Buenos Aires, 1977), p. 295.

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  6. Bushnell, ‘El sufragio’, p. 24.

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  7. Darío Cantón, ‘E1 Sufragio Universal como agente de movilización’, Documente de Trabajo, Instituto Torcuato Di Telia, no. 19 (1966) p. 5.

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  8. See R. Sáenz Peña, Escritos y discursos (Buenos Aires 1935), vol. II, pp. 72–6; 111–4. For the most compelling analysis of the reform, see Botana, El orden conservador; pp. 217–345.

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  9. For this standard interpretation and its main pitfalls, see Alonso, ‘Politics and Elections’. For a critique of the standard argument from a different perspective, see Hilda Sábato and Ema Cibotti, ‘Hacer Política en Buenos Aires: Los Italianos en la escena pêblica porteña 1860–1880’, Boletin del Instituto de Historia Argentina Dr. E. Ravignani, Tercera Serie, no. 2 (Sept. 1990); Sábato and Palti, ‘¿Quién votaba en Buenos Aires?’ and Hilda Sábato, ‘Citizenship, Political Participation and the formation of the Public Sphere in Buenos Aires 1850s-1880s’, Past and Present, no. 136 (Aug. 1992).

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  10. This argument is fully developed in K. Remmer, Party Competition in Argentina and Chile. Political Recruitment and Public Policy, 1890–1930 (Lincoln and London, 1984), pp. 24–34; 221–2.

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  11. For an analysis of this argument, see Alonso, ‘Politics and Elections’.

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  12. Sábato and Palti, ‘¿Quién votaba en Buenos Aires?’, pp. 402–7; Sábato, ‘Citizenship’, pp. 142–8.

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  13. The Electoral Register of the city of Buenos Aires for 1896 — the only one available prior to 1912 — contains the names, addresses, level of literacy, ages and professions of those enrolled.

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  14. The relatively small percentage of 13% for the upper sectors should not be underestimated, as in 9 of a total of 16 electoral wards the upper sector amounted to more than 10% of the registrations. Alonso, ‘Politics and Elections’, p. 479.

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  15. For analysis of the Electoral Register and its wider implications in the understanding of the country’s political development, see Alonso, ‘Politics and Elections’.

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  16. The following analysis on turnouts aims to complement the single work on the subject developed by Botana, El orden, pp. 189–213.

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  17. For the impact of immigration in the country see Germani, ‘Mass Immigration and Modernization’, pp. 289–330; and his Politica y sociedad, pp. 222–5.

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  18. As has been pointed out by Bo tana, El orden conservador, pp. 189–97.

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  19. In the election of 1900, for example, the opposition obtained a total of 135 votes.

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  20. E. Zimmermann, ‘Liberals, Reform and the Social Question: Argentina, 1890–1916’, unpubl. PhD diss., Oxford University, 1990, p. 82. (This is now published as Los liberales reformistas. La cuesiión social en la Argentina, 1890–1916 (Buenos Aires, 1995). For the development of the city, see also pp. 79–89.) The most complete study on the population growth of the city is Zulma L. Recchini de Lattes, La Población de Buenos Aires. Componentes demográficos del crecimiento entre 1855 y I960, Institute Di Telia (Buenos Aires, 1971); for annual rates of growth see p. 31.

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  21. In 1904 the age restriction for voting rose from 17 to 18 years of age.

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  22. Figures on the electorate over this period have been taken from the national and municipal censuses of 1887, 1895, 1904 and 1914.

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  23. Table 3 below provides figures for every year and shows that the turnout as a percentage of the electorate remains roughly constant throughout the whole period.

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  24. This estimate is calculated using the figures in Table 1 for the four years when numbers are available (1887, 1895, 1904 and 1914). It is then assumed that the electorate as a percentage of the total population (Column 3 of Table 1) adjusts between these years in a linear fashion; in other words, that this percentage declines from 10.1% in 1887 to 7.7% in 1895 by steady annual reduction. Hence an estimate of the percentage of Argentine males relative to the total population is made. This percentage is then multiplied by the total population in any particular year to get an estimate of the size of the electorate.

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  25. Cantón, ‘El sufragio universal’, pp. 12–6; and his Elecciones y partidos politicos en la Argentina. Historia, interpretación y balance, 1910–1966 (Buenos Aires, 1973), pp. 42–8.

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  26. Table 3 shows that estimates for the elections of 1910 are 25 and 20%. Cantón does not specify how he arrived at the estimate of 23% in 1910; it must be assumed that an average of the two elections of that year was taken.

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  27. After 1912, turnouts for the rest of the country followed a similar pattern of decline. After a sharp increase in the first election of 1912, they declined to an average of 40% in the 1920s. Anne L. Potter, ‘The Failure of Democracy in Argentina, 1916–1930’, Journal of Latin American Studies, vol. 13, pt. 1 (May 1981), p. 84.

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  28. Ibid., and Oscar Cornblit, ‘La optión conservadora en la politica argentina’, Desarrollo Económico, vol. 14, no. 56 (1975), pp. 635–9.

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  29. F. Korn has convincingly argued that by 1895 Buenos Aires already enjoyed the features of a modern city.

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  30. Censo General de la Repêblica Argentina, 1947, vol. 1, p. 1.

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  31. For the development of the city of Buenos Aires, see Zimmermann, ‘Liberals, Reform and the Social Question’, pp. 79–103; J. Scobie, Buenos Aires, Plaza to Suburb, 1870–1910 (New York, 1974); C. Sargent, The Spatial Evolution of Greater Buenos Aires, Argentina 1870–1930 (Tucson, 1974); F. Korn, Buenos Aires. Una ciudad moderna (Buenos Aires, 1981); J. Scobie, ‘The Argentine Capital in the Nineteenth Century’, in S. R. Ross and T. F. McGann (eds.), Buenos Aires: 400 years (Austin, Texas, 1982), pp. 40–52.

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  32. Boletin Demográfico Argentina, Buenos Aires (1901), no. 5, Año II, pp. 5;13.

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  33. Germani, ‘Mass Immigration and Modernization’, pp. 303–4. Although these figures are for the whole country, this pattern was most pronounced in the large cities, particularly in the largest, Buenos Aires. This is also analysed in Germani, ‘Hacia una democracia de masas’, in T. Di Telia, G. Germani and Jorge Graciarena, Argentina, sociedad de masas (Buenos Aires, 1965), pp. 208–17.

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  34. Félix Luna, ‘Los hábitos políticos después de Caseros’, Todo es Historia, Año XVII, no. 197 (Oct. 1983), pp. 22–4; Paula Alonso, ‘Historiadelcomité, 1890–1898’, unpubl. mimeo, Aug. 1991; Cárcano, Sáenz Peña, pp. 51–75. For the reports of the contemporary press on the campaigns and elections, see for example La Natión, 13 Mar. 1877’; El National, 7 Feb. 1872; Apr. 1873; Sept. 1878, where these events are described in detail.

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  35. The hours changed over the years; at times the election day was from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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  36. Cantón, Elecciones, pp. 41–2

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  37. Cárcano, Sáenz Peña, pp. 52, 75

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  38. Cantón, ‘El Sufragio Universal’, p. 5.

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  39. As argued by Sábato and Palti, ‘¿Quién votaba en Buenos Aires?’, pp. 402–7; Sábato, ‘Citizenship’, pp. 142–8.

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  40. Alonso, ‘Politics and Elections’, pp. 480–2.

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  41. For the development of the committee system, see P. Alonso, ‘The Origins of the Radical Party, 1889–1898’, unpubl. PhD diss., Oxford University (1992), pp. 114–28, and Alonso, ‘Historia del comité’; see alsoy4rc/w’vtf General de la Natión (AGN), Archivo del Dr. Juan Angel Farini. Papeles del Dr. Adolfo Saldías: President of Santa Lucía (no name) to Adolfo Saldías, 23 Sept. 1891, 3–6–3 no. 276.

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  42. AGN, Farini (Saldías): Rufino Pastor to Adolfo Saldías, 12 June 1893 3–6–3 no. 276; AGN, Archivo del Dr. Próspero García: P. Argerich to Próspero Garcia, 29 Aug. 1892, 30–3–12.

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  43. Accounts of the electoral campaigns have been based on the contemporary press, mainly La Prensa, La Natión, Tribuna, and El Argentino, during the days preceding the elections. For the campaign and organisation of the Socialist Party see also N. Repetto, Mi paso por la política (Buenos Aires, 1956), pp. 86–8.

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  44. Tribuna, 12 Oct. 1894. Presidents of these committees were always male, with the exception of Luisa Mitchel who presided over a local committee of the Radical Party between 1895 and 1898.

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  45. See for example, La Prensa, 16 Feb. 1896; Tribuna, 13 and 26 Feb. 1896; 21 Aug.; and 8 Sept. 1897.

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  46. See for example, La Prensa, 9 Jan. 1896; Tribuna, 13 and 14 Feb. 1896.

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  47. Tribuna, 7 Feb. 1894.

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  48. El Argentino, 14 March 1896.

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  49. This was the expressed purpose of the reform of the committee system introduced by the Radical Party in 1895. La Prensa, 6 June 1895.

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  50. There was a very wide consensus about this analysis of the electoral practices. See for example the opinions expressed by Tribuna, 19 Mar. 1895; La Nation, 5 Apr. 1897.

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  51. La Natión, 5 Apr. 1897.

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  52. La Natión, 16 Mar. 1891.

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  53. Ibid.; see also Sáenz Peña’s ‘Manifiesto al Pueblo’, 28 Feb. 1912, in R. Sáenz Peña, Escritosy discursos, vol. II, p. Ill; Cantón, Elecciones, pp. 41–2; Cárcano, Sáenz Peña, pp. 131–2.

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  54. See for example the list of complaints raised by Francisco Barroetaveña (of the Radical Party) in Congress, Diario de Sesiones de la Cámara de Diputados, (5 May 1896); pp. 33–41.

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  55. Juan Carlos Torre, ‘La primera victoria electoral socialista’, Todo es Historia, no. 76, (Sept. 1973). For the market of votes in previous and later years see also the analysis of each election published by La Prensa, 10 May 1902; 6 Mar. 1904; 13 and 14 Mar. 1904; 11 Mar. 1906. The market for votes seems to have declined around 1908, see La Prensa, 8 Mar. 1908.

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  56. This was for example the outspoken view of ex-president Carlos Pellegrini. L. Sommariva, Historia de las interventions fédérales en las provincias (Buenos Aires, 1910–1931), vol. II, pp. 314–5.

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  57. The only exception was one death that took place in an election in 1896; this greatly shocked contemporary opinion. See LaPrensa, 9 Mar. 1896.

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  58. See for exmple La Prensa, 14 Mar. 1910.

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  59. See the descriptions of the election day offered by La Prensa, 14 Mar. 1910.

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  60. Using the Electoral Register of 1918, Richard Walter has found that working-class voters represented 37.7% of the registered voters, the middle class 46.3% and the upper class 15.9%. Middle- and upper-class registrations grew slightly in comparison with those of 1895, while the working-class registration shrank. The differences in the social composition of the registers of 1895 and 1918 are, in any case, far from significant. Richard Walter, ‘Elections in the city of Buenos Aires during the first Yrigoyen administration. Social Class and Political Preferences’, Hispanic American Historical Review, vol. 58, no. 4 (Nov. 1978), pp. 595–624.

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  61. For the electoral results and its causes, see Natalio Botana, ‘La reforma politica de 1912’, in M. Giménez Zapiola (comp.), El régimen oligárquico. Materiales para el estudio de la realidad argentina (hasta 1930) (Buenos Aires, 1975), pp. 232–45.

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Authors
  1. Paula Alonso
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Latin American Studies, University of London, UK

    Eduardo Posada-Carbó (Lecturer of History) (Lecturer of History)

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© 1996 Institute of Latin American Studies

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Alonso, P. (1996). Voting in Buenos Aires (Argentina) Before 1912. In: Posada-Carbó, E. (eds) Elections before Democracy: The History of Elections in Europe and Latin America. Institute of Latin American Studies Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-24505-5_9

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