MULTIPARTY POLITICS IN ARGENTINA - ELECTORAL RULES AND CHANGING PATTERNS

This article attempts to illuminate some institutional features of the past and the current electoral systems of Argentina and the problemat ic relationship between these characteristics and the trend of changes that the party system has been experiencing since the return of democ racy in 1983. The focus is on the dangers of political stalemate that might have developed if the institutional arrangements implemented at the end of the military rule had not been reformed subsequently. The s tudy has two objectives: (a) to demonstrate that there is a trend towa rds an increasing fractionalization of the Argentine party system; and (b) to show that the combination of an electoral college with a major ity requirement, proportional representation to allocate presidential electors, malapportionment among districts, and this increasing proces s of pluralization in most provinces (where presidential elections wer e decided because of electoral college complexities) threatened the st ability of democracy. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.