# 1916 Argentine general election

General elections were held in Argentina on 2 April 1916. Voters elected the President, legislators, and local officials. The first secret-ballot presidential elections in the nation's history, they were mandatory and had a turnout of 62.8%. The turnout for the Chamber of Deputies election was 65.9%.

## Background

President Roque Sáenz Peña kept his word to the exiled leader of the Radical Civic Union (UCR), Hipólito Yrigoyen, who in turn abandoned his party's twenty-year-old boycott of elections. The president overcame nearly two years of conservative opposition in Congress (and pressure from his own social class) to pass in 1912 what was later known as the Sáenz Peña Law, which mandated universal male suffrage and the secret ballot. His health deteriorating quickly, the President lived to see the fruition of his reforms: the 1914 mid-term elections, which gave the UCR 19 out of the 60 Lower House seats in play (the ruling party obtained 10) and the governorship of Santa Fe Province (then the second-most important). Another beneficiary of the Sáenz Peña Law was the Socialist Party, led by Congressman Juan B. Justo. The formerly dominant PAN remained divided between the Conservative Party, led by the Governor of Buenos Aires Province, Marcelino Ugarte, and the Democratic Progressive Party, led by a reformist publisher and Congressman, Lisandro de la Torre.
Strengthened by both popular appeal and the fractiousness of its opposition, the UCR experienced dissent within from its Santa Fe Province chapter, whose endorsement Yrigoyen was unable to obtain. The Socialists lost one of its best-known lawmakers, Alfredo Palacios, who would run on a splinter Socialist ticket for several future elections. The Conservative Party's presumptive nominee, Governor Ugarte, stepped aside in favor of a lesser-known party figure, San Juan Province Governor Ángel Rojas, in a bid to attract votes from the hinterland and from moderates. President Victorino de la Plaza refused to interfere on behalf of the Conservatives (despite an assassination attempt that would have provided him with ample pretext). Refusing to back them, he fielded his own Provincial Party, which was limited mainly to his native Santiago del Estero Province. Faced with only token opposition from the remnants of the once-paramount PAN, Yrigoyen pledged to donate his salary to charity, if elected, and encouraged the rich country's impoverished majority to know him as "the father of the poor".
Election day, April 2, handed an unexpectedly large victory to Yrigoyen, who still had to await the results from the electoral college (which met in July). The dissident Santa Fe UCR had drained a significant number of electors from the official ticket, and Yrigoyen obtained but 133 of the body's 300 electors. Numerous Democratic Progressives, moreover, became faithless electors - pledging their support to the Conservative Party. Santa Fe's UCR, however, resorted to the same tactic, allowing Yrigoyen its 19 electors and making the patient activist for voter rights the first democratically elected President of Argentina.

## Candidates

* Radical Civic Union (populist): President of the UCR Hipólito Yrigoyen of the city of Buenos Aires
* Conservative Party (conservative): Governor Ángel Rojas of San Juan Province
* Democratic Progressive Party (reformist): Deputy Lisandro de la Torre of Santa Fe Province
* Socialist Party: Deputy Juan B. Justo of the city of Buenos Aires
* Yrigoyen
* Rojas
* de la Torre
* Justo

## President
### Popular Vote

| Presidential candidate | Vice Presidential candidate | Party | Party | Popular vote | Popular vote | Electoral vote | Electoral vote |
| Presidential candidate | Vice Presidential candidate | Party | Party | Votes | % | Votes | % |
| Hipólito Yrigoyen | Pelagio Luna | | Radical Civic Union (UCR) | 340.802 | 47,25 | 133 | 44,33 |
| Ángel Dolores Rojas | Juan Eugenio Serú | | Total Rojas-Serú | 150,245 | 20.83 | 70 | 23.33 |
| Ángel Dolores Rojas | Juan Eugenio Serú | | Conservative Party | 96,103 | 13.33 | 46 | 15.33 |
| Ángel Dolores Rojas | Juan Eugenio Serú | | Popular Party | 16,141 | 2.24 | 7 | 2.33 |
| Ángel Dolores Rojas | Juan Eugenio Serú | | Democratic Union | 13,921 | 1.93 | 4 | 1.33 |
| Ángel Dolores Rojas | Juan Eugenio Serú | | Autonomist Party of Corrientes | 9,645 | 1.34 | | |
| Ángel Dolores Rojas | Juan Eugenio Serú | | Civic Concentration | 9,170 | 1.27 | 7 | 2.33 |
| Ángel Dolores Rojas | Juan Eugenio Serú | | Provincial Party | 5,265 | 0.73 | 6 | 2.00 |
| Lisandro de la Torre | Alejandro Carbó | | Total de la Torre - Carbó | 135,308 | 18.76 | 64 | 21.33 |
| Lisandro de la Torre | Alejandro Carbó | | Democratic Progressive Party (PDP) | 115,604 | 16.03 | 49 | 16.33 |
| Lisandro de la Torre | Alejandro Carbó | | Provincial Union | 10,909 | 1.51 | 8 | 2.67 |
| Lisandro de la Torre | Alejandro Carbó | | Catamarca Concentration | 8,795 | 1.22 | 7 | 2.33 |
| Juan B. Justo | Nicolás Repetto | | Socialist Party (PS) | 66.397 | 9,21 | 14 | 4,67 |
| No candidates | No candidates | | Dissident Radical Civic Union | 28.116 | 3,90 | 19 | 6,33 |
| No candidates | No candidates | | Argentine Socialist Party (PSA) | 347 | 0,05 | | |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | 721.215 | 100 | | |
| Positive votes | Positive votes | Positive votes | Positive votes | 721.215 | 96,49 | | |
| Blank votes | Blank votes | Blank votes | Blank votes | 26.256 | 3,51 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 747.471 | 100 | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 1.189.254 | 62,85 | | |
| Sources: ||||||||

### Electoral Vote

| Presidential Candidates | Presidential Candidates | Party | Electoral Votes |
| | Hipólito Yrigoyen | Radical Civic Union | 152 |
| | Ángel Dolores Rojas | Conservative Party | 104 |
| | Lisandro de la Torre | Democratic Progressive Party | 20 |
| | Juan B. Justo | Socialist Party | 14 |
| | Alejandro Carbó | Democratic Progressive Party | 8 |
| Total voters | Total voters | Total voters | 298 |
| Did not vote | Did not vote | Did not vote | 2 |
| Total | Total | Total | 300 |
| Vice Presidential Candidates | Vice Presidential Candidates | Party | Electoral Votes |
| | Pelagio Luna | Radical Civic Union | 152 |
| | Juan Eugenio Serú | Conservative Party | 103 |
| | Alejandro Carbó | Democratic Progressive Party | 20 |
| | Nicolás Repetto | Socialist Party | 14 |
| | Carlos Ibarguren | Democratic Progressive Party | 8 |
| | Julio Argentino Pascual Roca | Conservative Party | 1 |
| Total voters | Total voters | Total voters | 298 |
| Did not vote | Did not vote | Did not vote | 2 |
| Total | Total | Total | 300 |

### Electoral Vote by Province

| Province | President | President | President | President | President | Vice President | Vice President | Vice President | Vice President | Vice President | Vice President |
| Province | Yrigoyen | Rojas | de la Torre | Justo | Carbó | Luna | Serú | Carbó | Repetto | Ibarguren | Roca |
| Buenos Aires City | 30 | | | 14 | | 30 | | | 14 | | |
| Buenos Aires | 20 | 40 | | | | 20 | 40 | | | | |
| Catamarca | 3 | | 7 | | | 3 | | 7 | | | |
| Córdoba | 18 | 7 | | | | 18 | 7 | | | | |
| Corrientes | 6 | 12 | | | | 6 | 12 | | | | |
| Entre Ríos | 15 | 7 | | | | 15 | 7 | | | | |
| Jujuy | 2 | 6 | | | | 2 | 6 | | | | |
| La Rioja | 2 | 6 | | | | 2 | 6 | | | | |
| Mendoza | 8 | 4 | | | | 8 | 3 | | | | 1 |
| Salta | 4 | 8 | | | | 4 | 8 | | | | |
| San Juan | 3 | 7 | | | | 3 | 7 | | | | |
| San Luis | | 3 | 7 | | | | 3 | 7 | | | |
| Santa Fe | 19 | | | | 8 | 19 | | | | 8 | |
| Santiago del Estero | 10 | 4 | | | | 10 | 4 | | | | |
| Tucumán | 12 | | 6 | | | 12 | | 6 | | | |
| Total | 152 | 104 | 20 | 14 | 8 | 152 | 103 | 20 | 14 | 8 | 1 |
| Sources: |||||||||||||

## Chamber of Deputies

| Party | Party | Votes | % | Seats won | Total seats |
| | Radical Civic Union (UCR) | 339,771 | 45.08 | 26 | 47 |
| | Total Conservative Parties | 165,729 | 21.99 | 18 | 43 |
| | Conservative Party | 112,922 | 14.98 | 15 | — |
| | Popular Party | 16,394 | 2.17 | — | — |
| | Democratic Union | 15,141 | 2.01 | 1 | — |
| | Provincial Union | 11,339 | 1.50 | 2 | — |
| | Autonomist Party of Corrientes | 9,933 | 1.32 | — | — |
| | Democratic Progressive Party (PDP) | 110,238 | 14.62 | 7 | 9 |
| | Socialist Party (PS) | 56,204 | 7.46 | 3 | 9 |
| | Dissident Radical Civic Union | 29,542 | 3.92 | 4 | 4 |
| | Liberal Party of Corrientes | 17,910 | 2.38 | 3 | 6 |
| | Others | 34,390 | 4.56 | — | 1 |
| Vacant seats | Vacant seats | Vacant seats | Vacant seats | 1 | 1 |
| Total | Total | 753,784 | 100 | 62 | 120 |
| Positive votes | Positive votes | 753,784 | 96.63 | | |
| Blank votes | Blank votes | 26,250 | 3.37 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 780,034 | 100 | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 1,189,254 | 65.59 | | |
| Sources: ||||||