Prelude to “Dictatorship”

Abstract The election of 1828 to appoint representatives to the Buenos Aires provincial legislature is remembered as a turning point in Argentina’s political history. The results of 1828 did not evidence a tight margin of victory. It was rather a “contentious election” if we consider the challenge of the results by the defeated party because of fraud and violence. The 1828 election intensified the polarization of the local political sphere, which deteriorated finally into an armed conflict and a civil war. On one hand, the elections held in Buenos Aires between 1827 and 1829 encouraged the confluence of previous social cleavages and new political identities, and, on the other hand, they intensified the polarization that opened the road to a regime of unanimity.