The Sáenz-Peña Law () was Law 8871 of

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, sanctioned by the National Congress on 10 February 1912, which established the universal, secret and compulsory male

suffrage Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

through the creation of an electoral list (''Padrón Electoral''). It was approved during the

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

of Roque Sáenz-Peña, main supporter of the law, and was published in the official government bulletin on 13 February 1912. The right to vote for women was not covered by this law until 1947, during the first presidency of Juan Perón. The "universal" scope of the original law included only native and naturalized men but not women and working class men who were non-citizen immigrants, a very significant portion of the population at the time. Indeed, in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

in 1914, 49% of the population was foreign born. In the entire country, 30% of all residents were foreign born according to the 1914 national census. The right to vote was not extended to immigrants due to concerns among the governing elite that migrants would back "extremist" parties.

Origin

Cristina Kirchner con urna electoral de 1916

Sáenz-Peña made his intentions about the voting system public during his first speech before the National Congress, in 1910. Interior Minister Indalecio Gómez proposed a reform that left the compilation of the electoral list in the hands of the War Ministry (males over 18 were recorded when called for

conscription Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it conti ...

), and the judicial branch was put in charge of dictating who would organize the elections and who would be allowed to vote. That deprived the executive branch of its former ability to write and manipulate the electoral list. Prior to the passage of the law, voting in Argentina was not secret. As a consequence, vote buying, intimidation and fraud was prevalent in elections.

Consequences

The conservatives, who had stayed in power for decades through dubious and fraudulent elections, could not consolidate a political party without popular support. Hipólito Yrigoyen, the candidate of the

Radical Civic Union The Radical Civic Union (, UCR) is a major political party in Argentina. It has reached the national government on ten occasions, making it one of the most historically important parties in the country. Ideologically, the party has stood for r ...

(''Unión Cívica Radical'', UCR), won the first presidential elections after the new law by a considerable distance, and the UCR became the most powerful political force. As a consequence of the law, all political parties had to reorganize themselves, revising their regulations, creating electoral platforms, opening local seats and periodically gathering in assemblies.

References

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''Sucesos Históricos Argentinos''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saenz Pena Law History of Argentina (1880–1916) Argentine legislation 1912 in Argentina February 1912 Democratization Legal history of Argentina