ARGENTINA: Victory for the Government

President Pedro Aramburu, the glum, straightforward general who runs Argentina, last week put his plans for rebuilding his country’s democracy to the test of elections—and won, but precariously. The government squeaked through to victory in balloting for an assembly that will rewrite the constitution inherited from Dictator Juan Perón, who was overthrown by Aramburu and his fellow officers. Assembly line-up in favor of the constitutional reforms: 118 to 87.

The moderate, pro-government People’s Radicals drew 2,128,072 votes. Lawyer Arturo Frondizi’s Intransigent Radicals, who had ardently wooed the Peronista vote, even promising to dissolve the Assembly if they gained control, trailed with 1,839,545. Juan Perón, in his time a popular tyrant who once polled close to 5,000,000 votes, drew fewer than 2,000,000 blank protest ballots in spite of the well-organized, well-financed campaign he had conducted from his Venezuelan exile.

When the 205-man Assembly convenes on Sept. 1, a pro-reform coalition of People’s Radicals (75 seats), Socialists (11), three shades of conservative Democrats (24) and the Communists (2) will be in control. Makeup of the coalition will shift rapidly, but the government should get most of the changes it wants, including a ban on presidential second terms, some curbs on the executive power to remove governors and mayors at will.

As a preview of the presidential elections set for next Feb. 23, last week’s results proved little. If Frondizi could work out a pact with the Peronistas and still hold onto his present following, he would win—but Perón has scorned Frondizi’s overtures and shows no sign of warming up. The People’s Radicals might well follow up last week’s victory—if they can find a candidate capable of uniting the party—by pulling in the Frondizi backers, who were demoralized by his small vote in the Assembly election. The current front runner for the People’s Radicals: Ricardo Balbin, the colorless lawyer who was defeated by Perón in 1951.