Margarita Stolbizer

Margarita Stolbizer (born 17 March 1955) is an Argentine lawyer and politician. Originally a member of the Radical Civic Union (UCR), she founded her own party, Generation for a National Encounter (GEN) in 2007. She has been a member of the Chamber of Deputies of Argentina on three occasions: from 1997 to 2005, from 2009 to 2017, and since 2021.

She was a presidential candidate in the 2015 general election, where she received 3.47% of the vote.

Early life and education Margarita Stolbizer was born in the western Buenos Aires suburb of Morón, in 1955. She enrolled at the Universidad de Morón and graduated in 1978, after which she taught at her alma mater's law school for four years. An avid volleyball player, she created her city's first women's volleyball team.

Political career Stolbizer was named to the National Council of Lawyers' Associations and, following elections in 1983, she was appointed Social Policy Director for the city of Morón.

She had been affiliated with the centrist Radical Civic Union (UCR) − whose candidate, Raúl Alfonsín had been elected president in 1983 − since her days at the university and in 1985, she was elected to the Morón City Council on the UCR ticket. As such she gained prominence for her role in the investigation and impeachment of opposition Justicialist Party Mayor Juan Carlos Rousselot, in 1989.

Stolbizer represented the Argentine Congress in the 2002 conference of Parliamentarians for Global Action in Stockholm, and was named Vice President of their International Council.

She developed increasing differences with the UCR's leadership and in 2005, unsuccessfully challenged former President Alfonsín for the post of head of the Buenos Aires Province delegation to the UCR Central Committee. The party's weakness ahead of the 2007 presidential election prompted the UCR to endorse a stronger candidate akin to their views, which combine social democratic policies with a longtime anti-Peronism. Stolbizer, by then a leader in the UCR's congressional delegation, favored endorsing ARI candidate Elisa Carrió (whose 2001 defection from the UCR had distanced the former colleagues), though Alfonsín's preference for the center-left economist Roberto Lavagna prevailed.

Broad Progressive Front 904,912 11.64% 3rd

President of Argentina

Progresistas 632,551 2.51% 5th

Legislative + Election Office List District Votes Result . Total % . 1985 City Councillor Radical Civic Union 3 Morón Partido 113,513 37.77% 1st 1997 National Deputy Alliance 13 Buenos Aires Province 3,315,703 48.28% 1st 2001 Alliance 3 Buenos Aires Province 814,551 15.35% 2nd 2009 Social and Civic Agreement 1 Buenos Aires Province 1,613,037 21.46% 3rd 2013 Progressive, Civic and Social Front 1 Buenos Aires Province 1,050,608 11.71% 3rd 2017 National Senator 1País 2 Buenos Aires Province 1,069,747 11.31% 3rd 2021 National Deputy Together 12 Buenos Aires Province 3,550,321 39.77% 1st