The Argentine legislative elections of 1985 were held on 3 November. Voters chose their legislators and, with a turnout of 83.8%.

Background

Raúl Alfonsín Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín (12 March 1927 – 31 March 2009) was an Argentine lawyer and statesman who served as President of Argentina from 10 December 1983 to 8 July 1989. He was the first democratically elected president after more than ...

's 1983 inaugural had ushered in a new beginning for Argentina in significant ways, chief among them a new relationship between the Argentine military and government. Economic policy continued to dominate political dynamics, however, a concern exacerbated by the

economic crisis An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...

inherited from the previous regime. The nation's leading labor union, the CGT was close to Alfonsín's chief opposition, the Justicialist Party, and the tension between the CGT and Alfonsín so evident during 1984 (despite the President's populist early policies) turned to hostility after he replaced the pragmatic

Bernardo Grinspun Bernardo Grinspun (1925-1996) was the minister of economy of Raúl Alfonsín Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín (12 March 1927 – 31 March 2009) was an Argentine lawyer and statesman who served as President of Argentina from 10 December 1983 to 8 ...

for the more conservative

Juan Sourrouille Juan Vital Sourrouille (13 August 1940 – 21 July 2021) was an Argentine economist. He is the author of ''El Complejo Automotor en Argentina''. Sourrouille was born in Buenos Aires. He was the Minister of Economy of Argentina during the gover ...

in February 1985. Sorrouille curtailed his predecessor's wage

indexation Indexation is a technique to adjust income payments by means of a price index, in order to maintain the purchasing power of the public after inflation, while deindexation is the unwinding of indexation. Overview From a macroeconomics standpoin ...

policy (amid 25% monthly inflation), leading to a sudden decline in real wages. Social discontent was compounded by military objections to sharp budget cutbacks, and bomb threats became frequent.''Todo Argentina: 1985''
/ref> Fulfilling a 1983 campaign promise, Alfonsín reacted to military unwillingness to court-martial those guilty of

Dirty War The Dirty War ( es, Guerra sucia) is the name used by the military junta or civic-military dictatorship of Argentina ( es, dictadura cívico-militar de Argentina, links=no) for the period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983 as ...

abuses (in which up to 30,000 mostly non-violent dissidents perished) by advancing a

Trial of the Juntas The Trial of the Juntas ( es, Juicio a las Juntas) was the judicial trial of the members of the ''de facto'' military government that ruled Argentina during the dictatorship of the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional (''el proceso''), which laste ...

, whose first hearings were held in April. This bold move was complemented by Sourrouille's June enactment of the Austral Plan, whose centerpiece, the

Argentine austral The austral was the currency of Argentina between June 15, 1985, and December 31, 1991. It was subdivided into 100 centavos. The symbol was an uppercase A with an extra horizontal line, code point . This symbol appeared on all coins issued in ...

would replace the worthless

peso argentino The peso (established as the ''peso convertible'') is the currency of Argentina, identified by the symbol $ preceding the amount in the same way as many countries using peso or dollar currencies. It is subdivided into 100 ''centavos''. Its ISO 42 ...

at 1,000 to one. Inflation, which had reached 30% a month in June (1,130% for the year), fell to 2% by August and, though a wage freeze prevented real incomes from rising, these new inflation rates (the lowest since 1974) led to quick recovery from a sharp recession early in the year. Alfonsín enjoyed a 70% job approval rating by the time votes headed to the polls in early November, though he owed none of it to his economic policies, which were supported by only 30% of the public.''Noticias.'' September 12, 1991. The strong showing for Alfonsín's centrist UCR resulted, instead, from the Dirty War trial, a risky and daring initiative which had gathered international attention and was, by then, in its closing phase.

Results

Results by province

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Argentine legislative election, 1985

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

1985 elections in Argentina Presidency of Raúl Alfonsín