Argentina is a representative democracy. This has not always been the case. Since the 1930s, the democratic rule of the country has been repeatedly brought down by coups d'¨¦tat. After World War II and the destitution of Juan Per¨®n, the recurring economic and institutional crises fostered the rise of illegal military regimes.

Jorge Rafael Videla's dictatorship, started in 1976, began its fall in 1982 after the defeat in the Falklands/Malvinas war, and ended in 1983 with the democratic election of president Ra¨²l Alfons¨ªn. Alfons¨ªn faced important challenges, including a military uprising, and resigned in 1989, six months before the end of his term, but the country was not in clear danger of becoming subject to a dictatorship again. Carlos Menem was the president for six more years and made a pact with Alfons¨ªn in order to achieve a constitutional reform that would allow him to be reelected. Following a neoliberal program, he ruled for four more years, until 1999, and then Fernando de la R¨²a was elected. This was the first time in decades that an Argentine president properly finished his term and passed on his charge to another democratically elected president.

De la R¨²a, however, could not manage the economic crisis and finally resigned on December 21, 2001, amid violent riots. Several short-lived interim presidents came and went, until Congress finally chose Eduardo Duhalde to rule until some sort of social and economic peace could be restored. Duhalde took care of the most critical matters and called for democratic elections, where N¨¦stor Kirchner was chosen (for the first time employing the ballotage system). Kirchner took office on 25 May 2003 and is the current president of Argentina, to serve until 2007.

Form of government

The Argentine constitution of 1853, as revised in 1994, mandates a separation of powers into executive, legislative, and judicial branches at the national and provincial level. Each province also has its own constitution, roughly mirroring the structure of the national constitution.

The president and vice president used to be elected indirectly by an electoral college to a single six-year term, and not allowed to seek immediate reelection. The constitutional reform of 1994, among other things, reduced the presidential term to four years, abolished the electoral college in favor of direct voting, and limited the president and vice president to two consecutive terms; they are allowed to stand for a third term or more after an interval of at least one term. The president appoints cabinet ministers and the constitution grants him considerable power, including a line-item veto.

Provinces traditionally sent two senators, elected by provincial legislatures, to the upper house of Congress. Voters in the federal capital of Buenos Aires elected an electoral college which chose the city's senators. The revised constitution mandated a transition (beginning in 2001) to direct election for all senators, and the addition of a third senator representing the largest minority party from each province and the capital. The revised constitution reduced senatorial terms from 9 to 6 years. One-third of the Senate will stand for reelection every two years.

Members of the Chamber of Deputies are directly elected to four-year terms. Voters elect half the members of the lower house every two years through a system of proportional representation.

Other important 1994 constitutional changes included the creation of a senior coordinating minister to serve under the president, and autonomy for the city of Buenos Aires, which now elects its own mayor.

The constitution establishes the judiciary as an independently-governed entity. The president appoints members of the Supreme Court with the consent of the Senate. Other federal judges are appointed by the president on the recommendation of a magistrates' council, which also administrates the judiciary. The Supreme Court has the power, first asserted in 1854, to declare legislative acts unconstitutional.

In 2003, following conflicts of interest with the Executive, the Kirchner administration adopted a new way of appointing justices: while this power remains in the President's hands, several candidates must be presented, their trajectory and background made known to the general public, other magistrates, the press, etc., and their criticisms collected and submitted to the executive.

Political parties and elections

Election results include names of political parties. See for additional information about parties the List of political parties in Argentina. An overview on elections and election results is included in Elections in Argentina.

Political parties

Julio A. Roca monument in Buenos Aires, ArgentinaArgentina's two largest political parties are the Justicialist Party (Partido Justicialista, or PJ), which evolved out of Juan Per¨®n's efforts in the 1940s to expand the role of labor in the political process (see Peronism), and the Radical Civic Union (Uni¨®n C¨ªvica Radical, or UCR), founded in 1890. Traditionally, the UCR had more urban middle-class support and the PJ more labor support, but both parties are now broadly based.

A grouping of mostly left-leaning parties and former Peronists ¡ª the Front for a Country in Solidarity (Frente por un Pa¨ªs Solidario, or FrePaSo) ¡ª emerged in the 1990s as a serious political contender to the PJ, especially in the federal capital. In August 1997, the UCR and FrePaSo formed a coalition called the Alliance for Work, Justice and Education (informally la Alianza "the Alliance"). The Alliance succeeded in taking Fernando de la R¨²a (UCR) to the presidency, with Carlos ¨¢lvarez (FrePaSo) as vice-president; but ¨¢lvarez resigned in 2000 after a scandal related to bribes in the Senate (the President's party refused to support or investigate the denunciations), and the Alliance was in practice broken from that moment on.

After this episode, followed by the resignation of Fernando de la R¨²a (who had to the flee from the government house in a helicopter), on December 21, 2001, the UCR's reputation was severely damaged, and the party lost many of its supporters. To some people, de la R¨²a's flight, coupled with the resignation of Ra¨²l Alfons¨ªn in 1989, confirmed the idea that the Radical party was not fit to rule, though it must be noted that in both cases Peronist activists are believed to have fueled popular discontent and even incited revolts to bring about this result.

Smaller parties occupy various positions on the political spectrum and some are active only in certain provinces.

Historically, organized labor (largely tied to the Peronist Party) and the armed forces also have played significant roles in national life. Labor's political power was significantly weakened by free market reforms during the 1990s, as well as the cooptation of labor leaders by the Menem administration. They now seem to be returning to their former position, since the current government focuses on a productive model with local industry as one of the top priorities.

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