Electoral system, mechanism ballotage and fragmentation policy in Argentina

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze changes in the Argentine party system and its implications for the electoral processes, based on empirical presidential election of 2007. In this election there was a widespread fragmentation of the opposition, which resulted in a race with 13 candidates for president against the incumbent candidate Cristina Kirchner. This election was a special significance for the political parties, which were marked by internal divisions and different applications of the same club, as well as unprecedented alliances between Peronist and Radical, parties that have historically made up the Argentine political polarization. The changes in the Argentine party system will be interpreted in the historical dimension, trying to understand them within a broader temporality. After investigating the possible causes of such party fragmentation, will seek to verify its consequences for the party system and, more specifically to the electoral disputes, with particular interest in determining whether there is the explanatory key to the victory of Cristina Kirchner first round. Finally, it will examine whether the changes that affected the Argentine representative system resulted from a shift from one party democracy to a democracy of the public or there was indeed a crisis of representation.