Independence: 9 July 1816 (from Spain)
National holiday: Revolution Day, 25 May (1810)
Constitution: 1 May 1853; revised August 1994
Legal system: mixture of US and West European legal systems; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
Executive branch:
chief of state and head of government: President Carlos Saul MENEM
(since 8 July 1989); Vice President (position vacant); election last
held 14 May 1995 (next to be held NA May 1999); results - Carlos Saul
MENEM was reelected
cabinet: Cabinet; appointed by the president
Legislative branch: bicameral National Congress (Congreso Nacional) Senate: elections last held May 1989, but provincial elections in late 1991 set the stage for indirect elections by provincial senators for one-third of 48 seats in the national senate in May 1992; seats (48 total) - PJ 29, UCR 11, others 7, vacant 1 Chamber of Deputies: elections last held 3 October 1993 ( next to be held October 1995); elections are held every two years and half of the total membership is elected each time for four year terms; seats - (257 total) PJ 122, UCR 83, MODIN 7, UCD 5, other 40
Judicial branch: Supreme Court (Corte Suprema)
Political parties and leaders: Justicialist Party (PJ), Carlos Saul
MENEM, Peronist umbrella political organization; Radical Civic Union
(UCR),Raul ALFONSIN, moderately left-of-center party; Union of the
Democratic Center (UCD), Jorge AGUADO, conservative party; Dignity and
Independence Political Party (MODIN), Aldo RICO, right-wing party;
Grand Front (Frente Grande), Carlos ALVAREZ, center-left coalition;
several provincial parties
Other political or pressure groups: Peronist-dominated labor movement;
General Confederation of Labor (CGT; Peronist-leaning umbrella labor
organization); Argentine Industrial Union (manufacturers'
association); Argentine Rural Society (large landowners' association);
business organizations; students; the Roman Catholic Church; the Armed
Forces