This articles gives information on voting, elections and election results in Argentina. For details about government institutions and political parties, see Politics of Argentina.
On the national level, Argentina elects a head of state (the President) and a legislature. Voting is mandatory for citizens between 18 and 70 years of age, with some exceptions. For citizens between 16 and 18 years of age, voting is optional (since 2012).
The President and the Vice-President are elected in one ballot, for a four-year term, by direct popular vote, using a runoff voting system: there must be a second round if no formula gets 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 formula, in quantity of affirmative valid votes. Before the 1995 election, the President and Vice-President were both elected by an electoral college.
The National Congress (Congreso Nacional) has two chambers. The Chamber of Deputies of the Nation (Cámara de Diputados de la Nación) has 257 members, elected for a four-year term in each electoral district (23 Provinces and the Autonomous city of Buenos Aires) by proportional representation using the D'Hondt method, with half of the seats renewed every two years in all districts. The Senate of the Nation (Senado de la Nación) has 72 members, elected for a six-year term in three-seat constituencies (23 provinces and the Autonomous city of Buenos Aires) for a six year term, with two seats awarded to the largest party or coalition and one seat to the second largest party or coalition. One-third of the constituencies are renewed every two years. In 2001 the whole senate was renewed.
Famous quotes containing the word elections:
“Apparently, a democracy is a place where numerous elections are held at great cost without issues and with interchangeable candidates.”
—Gore Vidal (b. 1925)