1957 Argentine Constitutional Assembly election

Neither victors nor vanquished were to emerge from the Revolución Libertadora ("Liberating Revolution") that violently deposed Argentina's populist President Juan Perón in September 1955, and despite the pressure against it, General Eduardo Lonardi's catchphrase became government policy in October: he negotiated personally with Perón's chief supporters, the 2.5 million-member CGT labor union, and formed the Civilian Advisory Council.

[1] Facing conservative opposition to his moderate approach to "de-perónization," as well as terminal illness, Lonardi lost his battle with both; replaced in November, he died the following March.

One front runner, Arturo Frondizi, believed it to be Aramburu's attempt to forestall elections, and the more conservative Ricardo Balbín feared it could boost Argentina's myriad, smaller parties – potentially complicating the UCR's ability to govern.

The elections – the first since Perón's deposal – were narrowly "won" by blank votes: Voters cast about 2,116,000 of these, besting the UCR-P's total by 10,000 and resulting in one of the highest such incidences (25%) in Argentine electoral history.

[6] Ultimately, the narrowly divided convention in Santa Fe resulted in deadlock when the UCRI walked out over the imminent reinsertion of Perón's Constitutional Article 40 (which nationalized energy resources).