1940 Argentina General Election (No Coup)

The 1940 Argentine General Election was held on April 1st, 1940 to elect the next President of the Republic and 83 seats of the House of Representatives. It marked the first time the conservative factions of the country won an election since the enactment of the 1912 Saenz Peña law that enshrined universal male suffrage, and the last presidential election held before national women's suffrage. Julio Roca Jr. was elected by a resounding 2-1 majority in the Electoral College, but the popular vote was the closest result in Argentine history up to that point, with just over 2 points separating Roca from UCR candidate Elpidio Gonzalez.

The Gonzalez-Mosca ticket put up a spirited fight, but it was not enough to overcome the effects of 24 years in power and the resulting fatigue with Radical rule. Alvear's second term was an improvement on his predecessor, but the economy struggled throughout the 1930s (aggravated in Argentina by the outbreak of WW2 further disrupting commerce with its largest trade partner, the UK); as a result, potentially more competitive Radical candidates like Amadeo Sabattini of Córdoba or Honorio Puyerredón of Buenos Aires declining to run for the presidency to focus on local races instead. Gonzalez and Mosca rose to the occasion, managing to energize an otherwise muted Convention overshadowed by defeatism - and even helping the party staunch the bleeding enough to score a surprise victory in the legislative elections.

This result, due in large part to a close election in Santa Fe due to a strong showing for de la Torre's front, soured Roca's otherwise historic triumph (which won the pivotal race in Buenos Aires by a wide enough margin to win the popular vote despite coming 2nd in number of seats): the National Democratic Party he had founded nearly doubled its seats, even shutting out the Radical Civic Union from a seat in Corrientes with help of the local Liberal Party, and he was set to be sworn in with a plurality in the lower house after similar wins in 1938. Most importantly, Leopoldo Melo continued to command a powerful majority in the Senate, and with the help of his Anti-Personalist running mate Hortensio Quijano, Roca could count on the occasional support of enough members of the UCR bench that his agenda would have little difficulty passing.

Roca's historic win aside, the 1940 election featured two other noteworthy novelties: the Popular Front and the National Restoration Front. The first was a broad leftist coalition spanning from the centrist Progressive Democratic Party of Lisandro de la Torre to the Socialists of Buenos Aires, even managing to secure electoral votes from the City of Buenos Aires (and missing out on more from Santa Fe by only a few thousand votes). The National Restoration Front's vote share was more meager, but its political significance was probably greater: General Ramirez' campaign was an unapologetic barnstorm of pro-fascist, pro-Axis and anti-democratic rhetoric that made little secret of its sympathies for the 1930 conspirators, and yet it scored nearly 6% of the vote despite only running in a handful of major cities.

1940 would prove to be a transitional election, as both Argentina and the world emerge from WW2 dramatically changed by the conflict. Growing labor militancy on the left, new dangerous ideas on the right, and the doubling in size of the electorate would all change the dynamics of future elections, and represent pressing challenges for the Roca government.