Justicialist Party
Justicialist Party Partido Justicialista | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | PJ |
| President | Cristina Fernández de Kirchner |
| Vice-President | José Mayans |
| Senate leader | José Mayans (UP) |
| Chamber leader | Germán Martínez (UP) |
| Founders | Juan Perón Eva Perón |
| Founded | 21 July 1946 |
| Merger of | Labour Party UCR Board Renewal Independent Party |
| Headquarters | 130 Matheu Street Buenos Aires |
| Student wing | Peronist University Youth |
| Youth wing | Peronist Youth |
| Membership (2022) | 3,204,329 |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Centre-left[A] |
| National affiliation | Union for the Homeland |
| Continental affiliation | Christian Democrat Organization of America São Paulo Forum COPPPAL |
| Colors | Light blue White |
| Anthem | "Peronist March" |
| Seats in the Senate | 31 / 72 |
| Seats in the Chamber of Deputies | 100 / 257 |
| Governors | 7 / 24 |
| Election symbol | |
| Flag | |
| Website | |
| pj.org.ar | |
^ A: The party has been described as catch-all, syncretic or a "third way" party, as well as centre-left, left-wing, and leftist. This diversity in classifying the Justicialist Party is caused by Peronism historically stretching from far-left to far-right views. The party is classified as centre-left or left-wing because of the dominating position of Kirchnerism; Steven Levitsky notes that under Kirchnerism, the party "shifted programmatically to the left". Lastly, Juan Perón, the founder of the Peronist movement, is considered to have been ideologically left-wing. | |
The Justicialist Party (Spanish: Partido Justicialista, IPA: [paɾˈtiðo xustisjaˈlista]; abbr. PJ) is a major political party in Argentina, and the largest branch within Peronism. Following the 2023 presidential election, it has been the largest party in the opposition against President Javier Milei.
Founded by Juan Perón and his wife, First Lady Eva Perón, it was previously called the Peronist Party after its founder. Under Perón, the party followed a left-wing agenda based on his policies. It is overall the largest party in Congress, but the party's factual position was undermined by divisions that emerged in the 1990s and lasted until 2020. The PJ was rocked by a conflict between two Peronist tendencies, Kirchnerism, the main, left-wing populist faction of the party, and Federal Peronism, which was located on the centre and centre-right of the political spectrum. The division ended with the failure of Federal Peronism to challenge the dominating Kirchnerist faction in 2019. This was completed by Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the main leader of Kirchnerism, being elected the leader of the party, and the creation of a separate dissident party - the Federal Consensus.
Aside from Juan Perón, who governed Argentina on three occasions from 1946 to 1955 and later from 1973 to 1974, eleven presidents of Argentina have belonged to the Justicialist Party: Héctor Cámpora, Raúl Alberto Lastiri, Isabel Perón, Carlos Menem, Ramón Puerta, Adolfo Rodríguez Saá, Eduardo Camaño, Eduardo Duhalde, Néstor Kirchner, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Alberto Fernández. Justicialists have been the largest party in Congress almost consistently since 1987.