Broad Front (Argentina)

The Broad Front (Spanish: Frente Grande, FG) is a centre-left peronist political party in Argentina most prominent in the 1990s. The party is currently part of the former ruling Unión por la Patria[11] coalition which supported Sergio Massa's presidential campaign.

Broad Front
Frente Grande
PresidentMario Secco[1]
Founded27 April 1993; 31 years ago (1993-04-27)
Split fromJusticialist Party
Youth wingJuventud Nacional del Frente Grande
MembershipIncrease152.902 (2014)[2]
IdeologyPeronism[3][4]
Progressivism[5][6]
Social democracy[7]
Kirchnerism[8][9]
Political positionCentre-left[10]
National affiliationUnion for the Homeland
Regional affiliationCOPPPAL
São Paulo Forum
SloganOtro país esta en Marcha (A different country is on the way)
Seats in the Chamber of Deputies
2 / 257
Seats in the Senate
0 / 72
Province Governors
0 / 24
Website
https://www.frentegrande.org

History

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The party was set up by a group of left-wing Justicialist Party members of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies, most notably Carlos Álvarez, and other left-wingers who were dissatisfied with the neo-liberal policies of President Carlos Menem, including dissident Christian Democrats led by Carlos Auyero and also figures such as Graciela Fernández Meijide. In 1990, the rebel Justicialists, having formed FredeJuSo, came together with the Communist Party of Argentina and others in a loose coalition. Álvarez proposed forming a unified party and dissolving the constituent members, thus automatically excluding the Communists, who left.

In May 1993, they joined with Frente del Sur, a party set up by film-maker Pino Solanas, to form the Frente Grande. In the 1993 elections, the party's list in the city of Buenos Aires gained 38% of the vote and several deputies were elected around the country, including Álvarez, Meijide and Solanas. Solanas left the party a short while later over personal differences.

In spring 1994, Álvarez led the Frente Grande into a new alliance, creating the Front for a Country in Solidarity (FrePaSo). FrePaSo would continue the success of the Frente Grande and propel Álvarez to be vice-president of the country. The Frente Grande continued to be a force in Buenos Aires politics, but has become largely marginalised with the collapse of FrePaSo; its members have largely joined the new Support for an Egalitarian Republic (ARI) party or returned to the Peronists under centre-left Presidents Néstor Kirchner and his wife and successor Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

What remained of the Front swung behind the Kirchners' ruling Front for Victory. At the 2005 legislative elections, however, some sections of the Front joined the Encuentro Amplio with other left-wing parties in Buenos Aires and Buenos Aires Province. The coalition did badly and lost its existing national representation. In 2007, members of the Front including María José Bongiorno were elected as part of the Front for Victory. Of its leading figures, Nilda Garré serves as Minister of Defense and party leader Eduardo Sigal is a junior official in the sub-secretariat of American Economic Integration and Mercosur.

In 2012, the party had 161,050 members, making it the third largest party nationwide.[12]

Electoral performance

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President

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Election year Candidate Coalition 1st round 2nd round Result
# of overall votes % of overall vote # of overall votes % of overall vote
2003 Néstor Kirchner   Front for Victory 4,312,517 22.25 Unopposed  Y 2nd-R Unopposed
2007 Cristina Kirchner   Front for Victory 8,651,066 45.29  Y Elected
2011 Cristina Kirchner   Front for Victory 11,865,055 54.11 (1st)  Y Elected
2015 Daniel Scioli   Front for Victory 9,338,449 37.08 (1st) 12,198,441 48.60 (2nd)  N 2-R Defeated
2019 Alberto Fernández   Frente de Todos 12,473,709 48.10 (1st)  Y Elected

References

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  1. ^ "Adriana Puiggrós es la nueva Presidenta del Frente Grande". Frente Grande. 17 December 2011. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  2. ^ Registro Nacional de Afiliados a los Partidos Políticos, Cámara Nacional Electoral
  3. ^ "Frente Grande: Ese aluvión progresista malherido con la Alianza". 24 December 2007.
  4. ^ "Historia del Frente Grande". 30 March 2021.
  5. ^ "Frente Grande: Ese aluvión progresista malherido con la Alianza". 24 December 2007.
  6. ^ "Frente Grande, el incondicional a CFK que busca ampliar su base".
  7. ^ Papeles, Nuevos. "La socialdemocracia –argentina– en debate". nuevospapeles.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-08-03.
  8. ^ "Frente Grande, el incondicional a CFK que busca ampliar su base".
  9. ^ "Historia del Frente Grande". 30 March 2021.
  10. ^ "Frente Grande: Ese aluvión progresista malherido con la Alianza". 24 December 2007.
  11. ^ "Unión por la Patria: ¿cuál es el origen de la coalición y quién la compone?". Retrieved 21 October 2023.
  12. ^ Estadística de Afiliados, Primer Semestre 2012 Archived 2013-01-18 at the Wayback Machine, Registro Nacional de Afiliados a los Partidos Políticos, Cámara Nacional Electoral.
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