1996 Buenos Aires City elections

General elections were held in the City of Buenos Aires on 30 June 1996 to elect the city's first Chief of Government (mayor) and all 60 members of the Constituent Assembly, which was tasked with drafting and adopting a new constitution for Buenos Aires. These were the first elections ever held in the city to elect its local authorities, following the 1994 amendment of the Constitution of Argentina which granted autonomy to the city. Prior to the 1996 election, the mayor (intendente) was directly appointed by the President of Argentina.

1996 Buenos Aires City elections

Mayoral election
30 June 1996 2000 →
Turnout	75.91%
Nominee Fernando de la Rúa Norberto La Porta Party UCR FREPASO Running mate Enrique Olivera Aníbal Ibarra Popular vote 753,335 500,542 Percentage 39.89% 26.50%   Nominee Jorge Domínguez Gustavo Béliz Party PJ New Leadership Running mate Ana Kessler Guillermo Francos Popular vote 351,746 247,500 Percentage 18.62% 13.10%
Results of the Chief of Government election by electoral circuit.
Mayor before election Jorge Domínguez PJ Elected mayor Fernando de la Rúa UCR
City Legislature
30 June 1996 1997 →
All 60 seats in the Constitutional Convention
Turnout	75.91%
Party Leader Vote % Seats +/– FREPASO Norberto La Porta 33.32 25 New UCR Fernando de la Rúa 26.16 19 New PJ Jorge Domínguez 14.45 11 New ND Gustavo Béliz 7.85 5 New This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

In the mayoral election, Radical Civic Union senator Fernando de la Rúa won in the first round of voting with 39.89% of the vote. The electoral rules established for this election did not require for a second round of voting (which would be implemented by the 1996 Constitution of Buenos Aires, currently in place). Incumbent mayor Jorge Domínguez sought to continue in office but received only 18% of the vote.^[1][2]

The legislative election resulted in a Constitutional Assembly controlled by the FREPASO, an alliance of centre-left and left-wing parties.

Background

Ever since the federalization of Buenos Aires in 1880, during the government of President Nicolás Avellaneda, the city of Buenos Aires – federal capital of Argentina – became a separate entity from Buenos Aires Province, operating as a non-autonomous city directly dependent on the government of Argentina. The Mayor of Buenos Aires (intendente) was from that point on appointed directly by the President of Argentina, while the city's Deliberative Council (Concejo Deliberante) served as the only democratically-elected local authority.^[3]

In the 1990s during the presidency of Carlos Menem, calls for Buenos Aires to become politically autonomous grew, and the issue was one of the main points of the 1993 Pact of Olivos, which led to the 1994 amendment of the Constitution of Argentina.^[4] The 1994 amendments (specifically article 129 of the new constitution) granted autonomy to the city, allowing it to vote for its own mayor for the first time in history.^[5][6][7]

Candidates

Coalition		Mayoral candidate (party) Prior political experience	Vice mayoral candidate (party) Prior political experience	Parties
		Fernando de la Rúa (UCR) National Senator (1992–1996)	Enrique Olivera (UCR) National Deputy (1991–1995)	UCR FPDJ PGI PSoDe SO
	FREPASO	Norberto La Porta (PSD) City Councillor (1989–1993)	Aníbal Ibarra (FG) City Councillor (1991–1996)	FG PSD PSP PC PI
		Jorge Domínguez (PJ) Mayor of Buenos Aires (1994–1996)	Ana Kessler (PJ) National Deputy (1993–1996)	PJ Ucedé PPDLJ
		Gustavo Béliz (ND) Minister of the Interior (1992–1993)	Guillermo Francos (ND) City Councillor (1985–1993)	ND PD PF

Results

Chief of Government

Candidate		Running mate	Party	Votes	%
	Fernando de la Rúa	Enrique Olivera	Radical Civic Union–FPDJ–PGI–PSoDe–SO	753,335	39.89
	Norberto La Porta	Aníbal Ibarra	FREPASO	500,542	26.50
	Jorge Domínguez	Ana Kessler	Justicialist Party–Ucedé–PPDLJ	351,746	18.62
	Gustavo Béliz	Guillermo Francos	New Leadership–Centre Alliance	247,500	13.10
	Lía Méndez	Liliana Beatriz Ambrosio	Humanist Party	9,239	0.49
	Carlos Zamorano	Antonio Sofia	Front for the Unity of the People's Left	7,650	0.41
	Santos Russomando	Elba Juana Martens	Authentic Socialist Party	5,390	0.29
	Pablo Rieznik	Catalina Guagnini	Workers' Unity Front	5,064	0.27
	Susana Sacchi	Gustavo de Biase	Socialist Workers' Party	4,340	0.23
	Laura Enda Marrone	Marcos Roberto Britos	Movement for Socialism	3,811	0.20
Total				1,888,617	100.00
Valid votes				1,888,617	97.32
Invalid votes				15,650	0.81
Blank votes				36,332	1.87
Total votes				1,940,599	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				2,556,489	75.91
Source: [8]

Legislature

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	FREPASO	653,943	34.28	25
	Radical Civic Union	513,328	26.91	19
	Justicialist Party	283,643	14.87	11
	New Leadership	154,086	8.08	5
	Centre Alliance	90,645	4.75	0
	Union of the Democratic Centre	57,234	3.00	0
	Pensioners' Developmentalist Progressive Front	50,039	2.62	0
	Party of the Intermediate Generation	22,848	1.20	0
	Social Democratic Party	19,654	1.03	0
	Solidarity	18,436	0.97	0
	Humanist Party	9,821	0.51	0
	Unity of the People's Left	8,777	0.46	0
	Pensioners' Political Power	6,102	0.32	0
	Authentic Socialist Party	5,744	0.30	0
	Workers' Unity Front	4,912	0.26	0
	Socialist Workers' Party	4,366	0.23	0
	Movement for Socialism	3,872	0.20	0
Total		1,907,450	100.00	60
Valid votes		1,907,450	97.19
Invalid votes		15,595	0.79
Blank votes		39,509	2.01
Total votes		1,962,554	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		2,556,489	76.77
Source: [8]

See also

• Pact of Olivos
• 1994 amendment of the Constitution of Argentina
• List of mayors and chiefs of government of Buenos Aires