Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

presidential elections A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...

are conducted under the ballotage system. This system was added by the 1994 amendment to the

Constitution of Argentina The Constitution of the Argentine Nation ( es, Constitución de la Nación Argentina) is the basic governing document of Argentina, and the primary source of existing law in Argentina. Its first version was written in 1853 by a constitutional ...

, as part of the

negotiations Negotiation is a dialogue between two or more people or parties to reach the desired outcome regarding one or more issues of conflict. It is an interaction between entities who aspire to agree on matters of mutual interest. The agreement ...

between former president Raúl Alfonsín and president

Carlos Menem Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. Ideologically, he identified as a Peronist and supported economically liberal policies. He ...

. Most countries with a

two-round system The two-round system (TRS), also known as runoff voting, second ballot, or ballotage, is a voting method used to elect a single candidate, where voters cast a single vote for their preferred candidate. It generally ensures a majoritarian resu ...

require a candidate to win at least 50 percent of the vote to win the presidency in a single round. In these cases, if no candidate reaches that threshold, a runoff is held between the top two candidates in the first round. In Argentina a candidate can win a first-round victory with at least 45 percent of the vote, or with at least 40 percent of the vote and at least 10 percentage points more than the runner-up. Lower-level Argentine districts, such as the city of Buenos Aires, use the conventional two-round voting system. Since the amended constitution took effect, only two elections had a result that required a ballotage. In the 2003 elections, Menem took 24.45% of the vote to 22.24% for

Néstor Kirchner Néstor Carlos Kirchner (; 25 February 195027 October 2010) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, Governor of Santa Cruz Province from 1991 to 2003, Secretary General of UNASUR and ...

. However, Menem pulled out of the runoff when polls showed him losing badly to Kirchner. The 2015 elections also required a second ballot. FPV candidate and

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires (), officially the Buenos Aires Province (''Provincia de Buenos Aires'' ), is the largest and most populous Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of th ...

Governor

Daniel Scioli Daniel Osvaldo Scioli (, ; born 13 January 1957) is an Argentine politician, sportsman, and businessman. He was Vice President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007 and Governor of Buenos Aires Province from 2011 to 2015. From 2020 to 2022 he was Argen ...

led the field in the first round, but finished with only 37 percent of the vote, three percentage points ahead of opposition leader and

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

Mayor

Mauricio Macri Mauricio Macri (; born 8 February 1959) is an Argentine businessman and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 2015 to 2019. He has been the leader of the Republican Proposal (PRO) party since its founding in 2005. He previo ...

's 34 percent. In the first runoff ever held for an Argentine presidential election, Macri narrowly defeated Scioli, winning 51.34% of the votes to Scioli's 48.66%.

References

{{Reflist Runoff voting Elections in Argentina Law of Argentina 1994 establishments in Argentina