Justicialist Party
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox political party The Justicialist Party (Template:Langx, Template:IPA; abbr. PJ), also known as the Peronist Party (Template:Langx),<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> is a major political party in Argentina, and the largest branch within Peronism.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Following the 2023 presidential election, it has been the largest party in the opposition against President Javier Milei.
Founded by Juan Perón and his wife, First Lady Eva Perón, the party followed a left-wing agenda based on his policies.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> It is overall the largest party in Congress. Historically, the party's factual position was undermined by divisions that emerged in the 1990s and lasted until 2020; the PJ was rocked by a conflict between two Peronist tendencies, Kirchnerism,Template:Refn the main, left-wing populist faction,<ref>Template:Bulleted list</ref> and Federal Peronism,Template:Refn which was located on the centre<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and centre-right<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> of the political spectrum. The division ended with the failure of Federal Peronism to challenge the dominating Kirchnerist faction in 2019.Template:Refn This was completed by Cristina Kirchner, the leader of Kirchnerism, being elected the leader of the party,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the creation of a separate dissident party — the Federal Consensus. Today, the party adheres to an ideology based on economic intervention, welfare-state policies, and economic independence from wealthier countries;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> it is located on the centre-left and left wing of the political spectrum.<ref name="left"/>
Aside from Juan Perón, who governed Argentina on three occasions from 1946 to 1955 and later from 1973 to 1974, eleven presidents of Argentina have belonged to the Justicialist Party: Héctor Cámpora, Raúl Alberto Lastiri, Isabel Perón, Carlos Menem, Ramón Puerta, Adolfo Rodríguez Saá, Eduardo Camaño, Eduardo Duhalde, Néstor Kirchner, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Alberto Fernández. Justicialists have been the largest party in Congress almost consistently since 1987.
History
Overview
The Justicialist Party was founded in 1946 by Juan and Eva Perón, uniting the Labour Party, the Radical Civic Union Renewal Board and the Independent Party, the three parties that had supported Peron in the election. After the enactment of women's suffrage, the Female Peronist Party, led by the First Lady, was also established. All Peronist entities were banned from elections after 1955, when the Revolución Libertadora overthrew Perón, and civilian governments' attempt to lift Peronism's ban from legislative and local elections in 1962 and 1965 resulted in military coups.<ref name=crassweller>Crassweller, Robert. Perón and the Enigmas of Argentina. W.W. Norton & Company, 1988.</ref>
Basing itself on the policies espoused by Perón as Argentine president, the party's platform has, from its inception, centered on populism, and its most consistent base of support has historically been the General Confederation of Labor, Argentina's largest trade union. Perón ordered the mass nationalization of public services, strategic industries, and the critical farm export sector; enacted progressive labor laws and social reforms; and accelerated public works investment.<ref name=crassweller/>
His tenure also favored technical schools, harassed university staff, and promoted urbanization as it raised taxes on the agrarian sector. Those trends earned Peronism the loyalty of much of the working and lower classes but helped alienate the upper and middle classes of society. Censorship and repression intensified, and following his loss of support from the influential Argentine Catholic Church, Perón was ultimately deposed in a violent 1955 coup.<ref name=crassweller/>
The alignment of groups as supporting or opposing Peronism has largely endured, but the policies of Peronism itself varied greatly over the subsequent decades, as did increasingly those put forth by its many competing figures. During Perón's exile, it became a big tent party united almost solely by its support for the aging leader's return. A series of violent incidents, as well as Perón's negotiations with both the military regime and diverse political factions, helped lead to his return to Argentina in 1973 and to his election in September that year.<ref name="Poneman, Daniel 1987">Poneman, Daniel. Argentina: Democracy on Trial. Paragon House, 1987.</ref>
An impasse followed in which the party had a place both for leftist armed organizations such as Montoneros, and far-right factions such as José López Rega's Argentine Anti-Communist Alliance. Following Perón's death in 1974, however, the tenuous understanding disintegrated, and a wave of political violence ensued, ultimately resulting in the March 1976 coup. The Dirty War of the late 1970s, which cost hundreds of Peronists (among thousands more) their lives, solidified the party's populist outlook, particularly following the failure of conservative Economy Minister José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz's free trade and deregulatory policies after 1980.<ref name="Poneman, Daniel 1987"/>
In the first democratic elections after the end of the dictatorship of the National Reorganization Process, in 1983, the Justicialist Party lost to the Radical Civic Union (UCR). Six years later, it returned to power with Carlos Menem, during whose term the Constitution was reformed to allow for presidential reelection. Menem (1989–1999) adopted neoliberal right-wing policies which changed the overall image of the party.<ref name="Argentina's new president sworn in">Template:Cite web</ref>
The Justicialist Party was defeated by a coalition formed by the UCR and the centre-left FrePaSo (itself a left-wing offshoot of the PJ) in 1999, but regained political weight in the 2001 legislative elections, and was ultimately left in charge of managing the selection of an interim president after the economic collapse of December 2001. Justicialist Eduardo Duhalde, chosen by Congress, ruled during 2002 and part of 2003.<ref name="Argentina's new president sworn in"/>
The 2003 elections saw the constituency of the party split in three, as Carlos Menem, Néstor Kirchner (backed by Duhalde) and Adolfo Rodríguez Saá ran for the presidency leading different party coalitions. After Kirchner's victory, the party started to align behind his leadership, moving slightly to the left.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The Justicialist Party effectively broke apart in the 2005 legislative elections when two factions ran for a Senate seat in Buenos Aires Province: Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (then the First Lady) and Hilda González de Duhalde (wife of former president Duhalde). The campaign was particularly vicious. Kirchner's side allied with other minor forces and presented itself as a heterodox, left-leaning Front for Victory (FpV), while Duhalde's side stuck to older Peronist tradition. González de Duhalde's defeat to her opponent marked, according to many political analysts, the end to Duhalde's dominance over the province, and was followed by a steady defection of his supporters to the winner's side.
Néstor Kirchner proposed the entry of the party into the Socialist International in February 2008. His dominance of the party was undermined, however, by the 2008 Argentine government conflict with the agricultural sector, when a bill raising export taxes was introduced with presidential support. Subsequent growers' lockouts helped result in the defection of numerous Peronists from the FpV caucus, and further losses during the 2009 mid-term elections resulted in the loss of the FpV absolute majorities in both houses of Congress.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2015, the PJ, with its presidential candidate Daniel Scioli, was defeated by the Cambiemos coalition. Mauricio Macri was inaugurated as President of Argentina, ending 12 years of Kirchnerism.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
However, in the elections of 2019, the PJ joined the Frente de Todos, which won the presidential elections. The PJ returned to power, with Alberto Fernández as President of the nation. On 10 December 2019, the Centre-left Alberto Fernández of the Justicialist Party was inaugurated president, after defeating the incumbent Mauricio Macri in the 2019 Argentine general election.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The success of the party in the 2019 elections was juxtaposed with the failure of dissident Federal Peronists to challenge the Kirchnerist majority within the party. The Federal Peronists failed to distinguish themselves from anti-Peronist movements, and their bid to put up its own electoral lists to compete with Kirchnerists failed. The election resulted in a "dismantling of the Federal Peronism alternative".<ref name="garriga"/>
On 22 March 2021, Fernández was elected by the national congress of the Justicialist Party as the party's new national chairman, succeeding José Luis Gioja.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Fernández ran unopposed, heading the Unidad y Federalismo list, which received the support of diverse sectors in the Peronist movement, including La Cámpora.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Union for the Homeland (Unión por la Patria, UP) is a centre-left to left-wing political and electoral coalition of Peronist political parties in Argentina, formed to compete in the 2023 general election.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The coalition is a successor to the previous Frente de Todos coalition.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The coalition is centered on the Justicialist Party and its allies both on the federal and provincial levels, including the Renewal Front of Sergio Massa.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Goñi 2023">Template:Cite news</ref>
In April 2023, President Alberto Fernandez announced that he would not seek re-election in the next presidential election.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In the primary elections on August of that year, Sergio Massa defeated Juan Grabois by a margin of nearly 16 percentage points, although it became the worst result for a ruling Peronist coalition since the PASO was first implemented in 2009.<ref name="Goñi 2023"/>
In the runoff in November 2023, Libertarian candidate Javier Milei defeated Massa with 55.7% against 44.35% of the vote, the highest percentage of the vote since Argentina's transition to democracy. Massa conceded defeat shortly before the official results were published.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Milei Victory">Template:Cite news</ref>
Beginning
The Justicialist party was created in November 1946, 10 months after Juan D. Perón was elected president of the nation, with the name Single Revolutionary party; previously this would be called the Peronist party. The party was a result of the fusion of three parties that had been created in 1945 in order to sustain the presidential candidacy of Perón: the Labor party, the Radical Renovating Together Civic Union, and the Independent party.
Peronism
Peronism is a political current that was established between November 1943 and October 1945, as a result of an alliance between a large number of unions, principally of socialist and revolutionary union ideology, and two soldiers – Juan Domingo Perón and Domingo Mercante, whose initial objective was to run the National Labor Department – later elevated to the level of Secretary of Labor and Social Security – and to drive until there were laws and measures for the worker's benefit. The Secretary was run by Perón, who in the course of those years was converted into the leader of a new political movement that would take the name Peronism in the course of 1945.
Since 1943, the country was governed by a military dictatorship self-designated as the Revolution of ‘43, made of a very heterogeneous composition, that had overthrown at its time a fraudulent regime, known as the Infamous Decade. At the start of 1945, the US ambassador to Argentina, Spruille Braden, organized a broad movement that was defined as anti-peronist, with the goal of opposing Perón and the sanctioned labor laws. Largely as a reaction to the union movement, principally the socialist and revolutionary union majority started to define themselves as peronists.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
On 8 October 1945, at the loss of the vote from the officials of Campo de Mayo, Perón renounced, being later detained. Nine days later, a big worker mobilization known as Loyalty Day, compelled the military government to prepare Perón's liberation and call elections. That day is the most cited as the date of peronism's birth.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Party Organization until 1955
Many union leaders opposed him, but their political inexperience and Perón's charisma before the masses made them unsuccessful.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Lewinsky characterizes the Peronist party (PP) as a popular party that will differ from other European, union based parties in four aspects.
The first of them is that they had been created from above by agents of the State, destined to retain power more than to obtain it; operated in major part by their own government using State resources whereas PP never developed their own organization. The second is that they were an extremely personalist party that in the statutes of 1954 declared Perón is their “Supreme Leader” and gave him the authority to “modify or declare null and void the decision of the party authorities... to inspect, intervene, and replace” the leaders of the party and even prohibited party headquarters from displaying photographs that were not Perón or Eva Perón. The national party management intervened in permanent form in the provincial subsidiaries and used to choose the local candidates. Usually the leaders with independent support were displaced and replaced by those “loyal to the death” that followed Perón's directives exclusively. In this form, the political career inside the party depended exclusively on the bonds with Perón; there was not a structure for political promotion nor a stable bureaucratic hierarchy. For example, the reorganization of the party in 1947 signified the replacement of the entirety of the highest party leadership members.<ref name="Levitsky-2005">Template:Cite book</ref>
Third, the party had a fluid structure that was maintained until the final days of the decade of 1940. In 1951, Perón once again reorganized the party structure creating a parallel hierarchy with a “strategic national command” and provincial “tactical commands” that would have representatives of the three party branches – masculine, feminine, and union – but in practice Perón and Eva Perón exercised strategic leadership, and the governors and “inventors” arrived ahead of the tactics. Lastly, differently from the English Labor party, the PP did not initially have rules about their relation with the unions. In the decade of 1950, the union was recognized as one of the three branches and, as such, was attributed to them by tradition – without a written norm – a right to a third of the candidacies, but until 1955 it was not complied with rigor.<ref name="Levitsky-2005" />
Ideology
The Justicialist Party is a left-wing populist party,<ref name="left_pop"/> which is also its historical alignment.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> According to Mariano Dagatti, "In its origins, its main commitment was the aid of workers and it remained since then closely linked to the working classes and labour unions."<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Founded by Juan Perón (who rose to Argentinian presidency in the 1940s with the support of his wife Eva Perón), the party was composed of Perón's loyalists and was a personification of populism in the form of a strong charismatic leader. The reforms carried out by Perón in 1940s and 1950s were described as socialist and populist.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Christopher Wylde defines Peronism as "a form of leftist–populist nationalism, rooted in an urban working-class movement that was allied to elements of the domestic bourgeoisie as well as the military."<ref name="wylde_138">Template:Cite book</ref> Writing on Perón and his ideology, Charles D. Ameringer argued that "The rise to power of Juan Perón in 1943 was not the end of the socialist impulse in Argentina; it was the culmination" and added that "much of the social legislation either introduced or implemented by Perón. .. originated with the Socialist Party."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Economic policy
The modern Justicialist Party is described as economically nationalist,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> working class-oriented,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and as a "blend of nationalism and labourism".<ref name="economist">Template:Cite news</ref> It has a strong focus on state intervention in economy and social security.<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref> According to Yasmin Mertehikian and Emilio Parrado, party's policies give the state a predominant role in the economy; PJ pursues market regulation, expansion of public sector, protecting employment and vulnerable worker groups, along with government subsidies for unemployed or low-income workers.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Economist wrote that the party pursues "near-autarky, and extended welfare benefits".<ref name="economist"/> Its policies are also considered protectionist and redistributionist.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Greg Mills wrote that the PJ focuses on elimination of poverty as its main economic goal, and summed up its traditional policy as "interventions in markets, the nationalisation of companies [and] widespread price and exchange controls". Axel Kicillof, the party's Minister of the Economy during Cristina Kirchner's presidency, argued that the advancement of technology now allows it "to centrally manage the economy now Soviet style".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The party also pursues reduced dependence on foreign credit,<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref> and since the emergence of Kirchnerism, its platform has been described as left-wing populist and anti-neoliberal.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
The basic principles of Peronism and the Justicialist Party are economic independence, political sovereignty, and social justice, as formulated by Perón. Economically, Perón expanded public spending and gave the state a dominating role in production and distribution (economic nationalism), implemented egalitarian distribution of national income (therefore Peronism is considered to represent syndicalism and/or non-Marxist socialism), and implemented a system of incentives and rewards that would direct economic activities towards local markets while severely limiting production for international markets (protectionism).<ref name="wylde_138"/> Peronism rejected individualism in favor of communitarianism and sought rejected capitalism in favor of an economic system that would be oriented around "social equity, rather than the individual pursuit of wealth." This was combined with Peronist redefinition of citizenship, as Perón attracted and empowered groups that were previously excluded socially and economically - urban poor, immigrant communities and unionised workers.<ref name="wylde_140">Template:Cite book</ref>
Social policy
Socially, Peronism was authoritarian, yet it also implemented free suffrage and promoted causes such as feminism, indigenous rights and emancipation of the working class. Peter Ranis wrote that "paradoxically, Perón democratized Argentina in the sense of bringing the working class more fully into the political process, though his administrations often placed cultural and political restrictions on the opposition that severely compromised that democracy."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The legitimacy of Peronism derived from trade unions who gave Perón their support, and his ideology was a reflection of demands and expectations of the Argentinian labor movement. According to historian Daniel James, the reliance of Peronism on trade unions was so strong, that in the Peronist movement, "the initiative very much lay with the trade union movement; Perón was more its creature than the labor movement was his."<ref name="brennan_6">Template:Cite book</ref>
Modern Justicialist Party is divided on social issues - it traditionally defends the Catholic social doctrine, and is the most popular party in pro-life districts. On the other hand, Cristina Kirchner's social agenda has been described as very progressive. According to political scientists Ana Carolina Garriga and Juan Negri, most Peronist leaders oppose abortion, but refrain from campaigning on it to maintain the party's capacity to represent various sectors of Argentine society.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> At the same time, the Journal of Populism Studies described the party as "anti-feminist, anti-LGBT, nationalist".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Cristina Kirchner opposed abortion, stating: "I am not progre, I am Peronist... Furthermore, I am against abortion".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> However, Peronist governments reluctantly backed progressive legislation under popular pressure, and under the presidency of Cristina, the party signed into law bills that legalized abortion up to the 14th week of pregnancy,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> along with same-sex marriage.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The party aligned closer to the Catholic Church following the election of Pope Francis, who expressed his support for Peronism; he remarked to President Kirchner: "It is the first time we have had a Peronist pope."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> This renewed PJ's commitment to social conservatism, leading to "silencing of pending proposals related to sexual and reproductive rights".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Foreign policy
In terms of foreign policy, the modern Justicialist Party has been described as nationalist,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> pro-China,<ref name="belt"/> supportive of Cuba and Venezuela, and hostile towards the IMF, Washington Consensus, and the United States.<ref name="giovanni">Template:Cite thesis</ref> It asserts the Argentine claim to Falkland Islands,<ref name="davis"/> pressing for the recognition of Argentine sovereignty of the territory and considering it to illegally be occupied by the United Kingdom.<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref> The governments of the party have been described to have had "tense and hostile" relations with the USA, while deepening ties with countries such as Russia, Venezuela, Iran and Cuba.<ref name="belt">Template:Cite book</ref> The party had friendly relations and was allied with Hugo Chávez, Fidel Castro, and Lula Da Silva.<ref name="giovanni"/>
The party has extensive ties and close relationship with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which dates back to Perón's presidency.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Perón admired CCP chairman Mao Zedong, and stated that "if he had been Chinese he would be a Maoist".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> He had an epistolar relationship with Mao in the 1960s; the Chinese leader likewise expressed his sympathy for Perón, famously advising a delegation of Argentine communists to become Peronist in 1969,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and stating: "If I were a young Argentinian, I would be a Peronist."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Justicialist Party gives China priority as the primary trade partner of Argentina.<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref> Writing on the party's relationship with Chinese authorities, Ricardo Ferrer Picado wrote:Template:Blockquote
Justicialist Party is also an ally of Venezuela, and supported its presidents Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro.<ref name="davis">Template:Cite web</ref> Chávez felt strong ideological affinity with Néstor Kirchner and Juan Perón, and on a visit to Argentina, declared that he had read Perón's biography and "could indeed call himself a Peronist". Chávez's affinity towards Kirchnerist Argentina was such that Venezuela was the only country to buy Argentine bonds during the Argentine monetary crisis; this served to help Argentina recover from the recession, and was done by Chávez despite the fact that it was unfavourable to Venezuela itself.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Argentina and Venezuela formed a strategic alliance that sought to "establish a new model of socio-economic development and bilateral integration with the purpose of reaching a South American autonomy." Both countries declared opposition to "Yankee imperialism", and Venezuela became the country that Argentina established the most international agreements with.<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref> Peronism became an important inspiration for Chávez and his ideology of Chavismo; Chávez called himself "a true Peronist".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Maduro likewise declared : "I am a Peronist and an Evista."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Members of the Justicialist Party were government-approved observers at the 2024 Venezuelan presidential election.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Since the rise of Kirchnerism, the Justicialist Party has had antagonistic relations with the IMF, denouncing it for imposing austerity measures and citing it as an example of US interventionism.<ref name="giovanni"/> Justicialist Party considers multilateral agreements as exploitative, arguing that they are designed to benefit wealthy countries. Michael Andrew Scanlaw wrote that the Justicialists "railed against the foreign interference of the IMF and World Bank via the Washington Consensus, articulating the same anti-colonial message as Perón before them."<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref> Under the party's rule, Argentina allied with Venezuela, Brazil and Bolivia to oppose the Washington consensus.<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref> The party also entered negotiations for Argentina to become a member of BRICS+ in 2023, and Argentina was to become a member on 1 January 2024. However, this was disrupted by the election of anti-Peronist Javier Milei in the 2023 Argentine general election, who formally rejected the invitation to BRICS+ upon taking office.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The party withheld condemning Russia after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Justicialist government opted to maintain friendly relations with Russia, and Alberto Fernández, the Argentine president and leader of the party at the time, argued that “Argentina must become the gate of access” for Russia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Party members were also observers at the 2024 Russian presidential election, invited by Russian authorities.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2023, in response to the Gaza War, the Justicialist government criticized Israel for its actions in Gaza, accusing it of violating international law.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The party itself released a statement accusing Israel of "indiscriminate killing in Gaza".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> As president, Cristina Kirchner became known for her hostile stance towards Israel. In a demonstration, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine members carried a photo of Kircher next to Hugo Chávez, Ali Khamenei, Fidel Castro and Hasan Nasrallah, honouring them as "symbols of resistance against imperialism."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Development
Following the overthrow of Perón in 1955, Peronism would gradually shift further to the left, something that was influenced by political developments in Latin America such as the Cuban Revolution and the development of far-left liberation theology amongst Latin American Catholics, as well as by Perón's tactical endorsement and promotion of socialist and leftist currents within his movement.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 1956, exiled Perón picked left-wing activist John William Cooke to represent the Peronist movement in Argentina in his absence. Cooke promoted socialism and presented Peronism as a movement that was "antibureaucratic, socialist, profoundly national, and sister to all the world's exploited [peoples]", and praising Perón as the "leader of national liberation".<ref name="collier_495">Template:Cite book</ref> In 1960, Cooke moved to Revolutionary Cuba, where he combined Peronism with Guevarism, Castroism and the foco theory.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Perón approved of Cooke's activism and wrote positively of Marxism himself, identifying Peronist struggle with the Cuban Revolution. With Perón's encouragement, Peronist youth formed left-wing, revolutionary organizations such as the Montoneros and the People's Revolutionary Army. Perón supported their struggle as a realisation of his justicialist doctrine, agreeing with the Montoneros' conclusion that "the only possible road for the people to seize power and install national socialism is total, national, and prolonged revolutionary war. .. [following] the methods of rural and urban guerrillas."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Following Vatican II that led to development of anti-capitalist, revolutionary and Marxist-aligned rhetoric amongst Latin American clergy, Perón also gained support of left-wing Catholics who supported the far-left liberation theology. Left-wing priests praised Peronism as a precursor to liberation theology, and the Movement of Priests for the Third World argued that "the Peronist movement, revolutionary, with its massive force... will necessarily lead to the revolution which will make possible an original and Latin American socialism."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
From the return of Perón in 1973 and under the leadership of Isabel Perón, the Justicialist Party was no longer characterized by anti-imperialist and revolutionary tones but by a strong focus on Orthodox Peronism and anti-communism (of which it became the main bulwark in South America). That line continued even after the military dictatorship of the National Reorganization Process, with the government of Carlos Menem until that of Eduardo Duhalde. The party moved from Orthodox Peronism to the centre-right, while its rival Radical Civic Union acted as a centre-left party. Later in the 20th century, it was described as a catch-all party.<ref name="catch_me"/> Since 2003, the party has undergone an abrupt revolution, with the rise of a faction known as the Front for Victory, led by Néstor Kirchner. The policies and ideology of that faction were dubbed Kirchnerism, a mix of anti-neoliberalism, left-wing nationalism and radicalism. Kirchner was elected President of Argentina and soon became a popular left-wing figure. The party shifted to being left-wing populist, while the Radical Civic Union joined with other anti-Kirchnerist centrist and center-right parties including Republican Proposal. After his death in 2010, his wife, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, took over the leadership of the Front for Victory, which continues to be a major faction of the Justicialist Party.
Leaders
The party is headed by a National Committee, whose president is the de facto leader of the party.
- 1946–1974: Juan Perón (President: 1946–1955, 1973–1974)
- 1974–1985: Isabel Perón (President: 1974–1976)
- 1985–1990: Antonio Cafiero
- 1990–2001: Carlos Menem (President: 1989–1999)
- 2001: Rubén Marín (interim)
- 2001–2003: Carlos Menem
- 2003–2004: Eduardo Fellner
- 2004–2005: (No leader)
- 2005–2008: Ramón Ruiz
- 2008–2009: Néstor Kirchner (President: 2003–2007)
- 2009: Daniel Scioli (interim)
- 2009–2010: Néstor Kirchner
- 2010–2014: Daniel Scioli (interim)
- 2016–2018: José Luis Gioja
- 2018: Template:Ill (judicial controller)
- 2018–2021: José Luis Gioja
- 2021–2024: Alberto Fernández (President: 2019–2023)
- 2024–: Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Electoral history
Presidential elections
| Election year | Candidate(s) | First Round | Second Round | Result | Note | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # votes | % vote | # votes | % vote | ||||
| 1951 | Juan Perón | 4,745,168 | 63.40 | Template:Y Elected | as the Peronist Party | ||
| 1958 | no candidate (banished) | Template:Steady — | Perón-Frondizi Pact | ||||
| 1963 | no candidate (banished) | Template:Steady — | |||||
| M-1973 | Héctor Cámpora | 5,907,464 | 49.56 | Template:Y Elected | as the Justicialist Party part of the Justicialist Liberation Front | ||
| S-1973 | Juan Perón | 7,359,252 | 61.85 | Template:Y Elected | part of the Justicialist Liberation Front | ||
| 1983 | Ítalo Lúder | 5,944,402 | 40.16 | Template:N Defeated | 247 Electoral College seats | ||
| 1989 | Carlos Menem | 7,953,301 | 47.49 | Template:Y Elected | 325 Electoral College seats, part of the Popular Justicialist Front | ||
| 1995 | Carlos Menem | 8,687,319 | 49.94 | Template:Y Elected | Joint-ticket (PJ—UCeDé) | ||
| 1999 | Eduardo Duhalde | 7,254,417 | 38.27 | Template:N Defeated | part of the Justicialist Coalition for Change | ||
| 2003 | Carlos Menem | 4,740,907 | 24.45 | null | 0 | Template:N 2nd-R Forfeited | Front for Loyalty, a faction of PJ |
| Néstor Kirchner | 4,312,517 | 22.24 | null | 0 | Template:Y 2nd-R Unopposed | Front for Victory, a faction of PJ | |
| Adolfo Rodríguez Saá | 2,735,829 | 14.11 | Template:N 1st-R Defeated | Front of the Popular Movement, a faction of PJ | |||
| 2007 | Cristina Kirchner | 8,651,066 | 45.29 | Template:Y Elected | part of the Front for Victory Alliance | ||
| Alberto Rodríguez Saá | 1,458,955 | 7.64 | Template:N Defeated | part of the Justice, Union and Liberty Front Alliance | |||
| 2011 | Cristina Kirchner | 11,865,055 | 54.11 | Template:Y Elected | Front for Victory, a faction of PJ | ||
| 2015 | Daniel Scioli | 9,338,449 | 37.08 | 12,198,441 | 48.60 | Template:N 2nd-R Defeated | part of the Front for Victory Alliance |
| 2019 | Alberto Fernández | 12,473,709 | 48.10 | Template:Y Elected | part of the Everyone's Front Alliance | ||
| 2023 | Sergio Massa | 9,853,492 | 36.78 | 11,516,142 | 44.31 | Template:N 2nd-R Defeated | part of the Union for the Homeland |
| Juan Schiaretti | 1,802,068 | 6.73 | Template:N 1st-R Defeated | part of the Hacemos por Nuestro País | |||
Congressional elections
Chamber of Deputies
Senate elections
References
External links
Template:Argentine political parties Template:Peronism Template:Front for Victory Template:Coord
- Pages with broken file links
- Justicialist Party
- 1946 establishments in Argentina
- Center-left parties in Argentina
- Left-wing parties in Argentina
- Kirchnerism
- Left-wing nationalist parties
- Peronist parties and alliances in Argentina
- Political parties established in 1946
- Political parties in Argentina
- Formerly banned political parties