The Argentine General election of 1954 was held on 25 April. Voters chose both their legislators and the Vice-President of Argentina; with a turnout of 85%.

Background

The death of his wife and closest advisor,

Evita Evita may refer to: Arts * Evita (1996 film), ''Evita'' (1996 film), a 1996 American musical drama film based on the 1976 concept album of the same name * Evita (2008 film), ''Evita'' (2008 film), a documentary about Eva Péron * Evita (album), ''E ...

, stuck President

Juan Perón Juan Domingo Perón (, , ; 8 October 1895 – 1 July 1974) was an Argentine Army general and politician. After serving in several government positions, including Minister of Labour and Vice President of a military dictatorship, he was elected P ...

amid serious difficulties. A severe drought in 1952 and years of pessimism in Argentina's important

agrarian sector Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

depleted foreign reserves and forced Perón to curtail public lending and spending programs. The recession (and a

bumper crop In agriculture, a bumper crop is a crop that has yielded an unusually productive harvest. The word "bumper" in this context comes from a usage that means "something unusually large", which is where this term comes from. Though very productive har ...

) did, however, allow Central Bank reserves to recover and brought inflation (50% in 1951) to single digits. Controversy surrounding Perón's in-laws and political violence both by and against his

Peronist Peronism, also called justicialism,. The Justicialist Party is the main Peronist party in Argentina, it derives its name from the concept of social justice., name=, group= is an Argentine political movement based on the ideas and legacy of Ar ...

movement had dogged the president in the first half of 1953, and he took the opportunity of upcoming legislative polls to test his popularity. The Argentine Constitution did not require it at the time, but the President announced a special election to replace the late Vice President,

Hortensio Quijano Juan Hortensio Quijano (; June 10, 1884 – April 3, 1952) was the Vice President of Argentina under President Juan Perón from 1946 until his 1952 death in Buenos Aires. Quijano was born in Corrientes Province in 1884, and enrolled at the Un ...

. Dr. Quijano had died on April 3, 1952, two months and one day before his term was to have ended on June 4, 1952. Perón nominated Senator

Alberto Teisaire Alberto Teisaire (20 May 1891 – 11 September 1963) was an Argentine naval officer and Vice President of Argentina. Life and times Early life and Navy career Alberto Teisaire was born in 1891 to Clementina Cejas and Eduardo Teisaire, in M ...

as the candidate for the then named Partido Peronista (Peronist Party). Teisaire was familiar to Perón from the 1943 coup d'état; the former

rear admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

had helped retain the normally restive Navy's support for the populist leader before and after Perón's 1946 election and, after eight years in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

, he remained close to the military - a far from trivial consideration. In the opposition since 15 years before Perón took office, the centrist UCR had been burdened by censorship and sundry forms of harassment since 1930, and 1953 had been marked by the jailing of most of their leaders. Among the few prominent figures in the party available to run for the vice-presidency was Crisólogo Larralde. Larralde had opposed the UCR's 1945 alliance with conservatives and socialists against Perón, and was a well-known figure in the UCR's dissident, pro-Perón "Renewal Group." This did not, however, ease the UCR's restriction to access to most mass media, and the party was defeated by similar numbers to their 1951 loss.Todo Argentina: 1954

Results

Vice president

Chamber of Deputies

Senate

Notes

{{Argentine elections

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

Argentina April 1954 events in South America