Argentine National Congress in the context of List of political parties in Argentina

Argentina has 23 provinces (Spanish: provincias, singular provincia) and one autonomous city, Buenos Aires, which serves as the federal capital, as determined by Congress.

The provinces and the capital have their own constitutions and exist under a federal system.

The Chamber of Deputies (Spanish: Cámara de Diputados de la Nación), officially the Honorable Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine Nation, is the lower house of the Argentine National Congress (Spanish: Congreso de la Nación). It is made up of 257 national deputies who are elected in multi-member constituencies corresponding with the territories of the 23 provinces of Argentina (plus the Federal Capital) by party list proportional representation. Elections to the Chamber are held every two years, so that half of its members are up in each election, making it a rare example of staggered elections used in a lower house.

The Constitution of Argentina lays out certain attributions that are unique to the Chamber of Deputies. The Chamber holds exclusive rights to levy taxes; to draft troops; and to accuse the president, cabinet ministers, and members of the Supreme Court before the Chamber of Senators. Additionally, the Chamber of Deputies receives for consideration bills presented by popular initiative.

General elections were held in Argentina on Sunday, 23 October 2011. Incumbent president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of the Front for Victory won in a landslide, with 54% of the vote, securing a second term in office. The Front for Victory won just over half of the seats in the National Congress. As of 2023, this marked the last time the vice president-elect was not a woman.

Mercosur Parliamentarians were also popularly elected for the first time. Another novelty was the introduction of open, simultaneous and mandatory primaries. These took place 14 August 2011 to select the candidates of each political party or coalition.

The politics of Argentina take place in the framework of what the Constitution defines as a federal presidential representative democratic republic, where the President of Argentina is both Head of State and Head of Government. Legislative power is vested in the two chambers of the Argentine National Congress. The Judiciary is independent, as are the Executive and the Legislature. Elections take place regularly on a multi-party system.

In the 20th century, Argentina experienced significant political turmoil and democratic reversals. Argentina's first episode of democratization started with the 1912 Argentine legislative election and ended with the 1930 Argentine coup d'état. Between 1930 and 1976, the armed forces overthrew six governments in Argentina. Some historians see between military rule and periods of restricted democracy also periods of democracy (1946–1955, and 1973–1976), while other sources only consider the period 1963–1965 as barely meeting the standards of democratic transition.