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ARGENTINA
Senado (Senate)
ELECTIONS IN 2009

Compare data for parliamentary chambers in the Last elections module

A historical Archive of past election results for this chamber can be found on a separate page

Parliament name (generic / translated) Congreso de la nación / National Congress
Structure of parliament Bicameral
Chamber name (generic / translated) Senado / Senate
Related chamber (for bicameral parliaments) Cámara de Diputados / Chamber of Deputies
BACKGROUND
Dates of election / renewal (from/to) 28 June 2009
Purpose of elections Early elections were held to renew one-third (24) of the seats in the Senate. Elections to the Senate had previously taken place on 28 October 2007.
On 13 March 2009 President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner proposed to hold early parliamentary elections on 28 June instead of 28 October. She argued that early elections would allow the government to focus more on solving the country's economic woes and less on politics. Opposition parties criticized the move arguing that the President was calling elections before her popularity waned. Shortly before her announcement the date of local elections in Buenos Aires was moved to 28 June so as to hold local and national elections separately. Analysts said that was designed to give more time for the party of the President's opponent Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri to prepare for the national elections.

At stake in the 2009 parliamentary elections were 127 of the 257 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and one third of the 72 seats in the Senate.

In the previous elections held in October 2007 the Victory Front (FV) of the then President Néstor Kirchner won 62 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and five in the Senate. After the elections the FV controlled 116 and 11 seats respectively. Following the elections the Civic Coalition Confederation held 18 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and two in the Senate while the Radical Civic Union (UCR) had 24 and seven seats respectively. The remaining seats went to small parties. President Kirchner's wife Cristina Fernández de Kirchner won the presidential elections becoming the first elected female president of the country.

President Fernández de Kirchner initially enjoyed high popularity. However her popularity reportedly dwindled after she introduced a tax on soya bean exports in March 2008. It triggered four months of road blockades and protests by farmers. The global economic crisis and plummeting soya bean and wheat prices hit Argentina's exports. It slowed down annual economic growth to 6.8 per cent in 2008 down from 8.8 per cent the previous year. In October 2008 President Fernández de Kirchner announced a plan to nationalize the country's private pension funds amounting to US$ 24 billion. She argued that the move would protect pensions from turmoil in the global financial markets. Her opponents criticized the measure claiming that the government was trying to use the funds to pay back its debt obligations.

Former president Néstor Kirchner was running for a seat in the Chamber of Deputies on an FV ticket. He urged voters to support his party saying that the 2009 poll was "a choice between a return to the past and the consolidation of a national project" referring to the country's economic crisis of 2001.

The FV was challenged by the 'Pro coalition' (Republican Proposal) comprising dissidents from the FV. The 'Pro coalition' was led by Mr. Macri and included a wealthy entrepreneur Francisco de Narvaez. It pledged to fight crime. It criticized the FV for using "symbolic candidates" in the election campaign arguing that many of its famous political figures would not play an active role in Congress.

Several farmers ran for the 2009 elections under the banner of the Argentine Agrarian Federation. They promised to cut export taxes on agricultural products.

In all 74.36 per cent of the country's 28 million registered voters turned out for the elections to the Chamber of Deputies while 72.39 per cent of the 8.5 million registered voters cast their ballot for the Senate elections. Polling took place without any major incidents.

Following the elections the FV controlled 87 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 35 seats in the Senate. Mr. Néstor Kirchner conceded defeat and resigned as FV leader. The 'Pro coalition' won 11 seats in the Chamber of Deputies but none in the Senate.

On 3 December the newly elected members took up their seats in Congress. The Chamber of Deputies re-elected Mr. Eduardo Alfredo Fellner (FV) as its Speaker while the Vice-President of the country Mr. Julio César Cobos continues to serve as President of the Senate as stipulated by the Constituion.
STATISTICS
Voter turnout
Round no 128 June 2009
Number of registered electors
Voters
Blank or invalid ballot papers
Valid votes
8'474'844
6'134'998 (72.39%)

Notes
Distribution of seats
Round no 1
Political Group Total
Front for Victory 4
Civic and Social Front 2
Civic Front Alliance 2
Civic Federal Front-UCR-CONFE 2
Radical Civic Union (UCR) 2
Santa Fe Federal Alliance 2
Integration Front Alliance 2
Front for All 2
Justicialist Party (PJ) 2
Alliance - La Pampa Civic and Social Front (FREPAM) 1
Progressive Civic and Social Front Alliance 1
Alliance Front Civic and Social Accord 1
Rally for Corrientes - Civic and Social Accord 1
Distribution of seats according to sex
Men
Women
Percent of women
16
8
33.33%
Distribution of seats according to age
Distribution of seats according to profession
Comments
Sources:
- Senate (02.09.2009 29.09.2009 21.12.2009)
- http://www.elecciones.gov.ar/cdmesas/cdmesas.htm

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