The whole country seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. In three jammed galleries of Buenos Aires' red-and-gold Chamber of Deputies, spectators embraced, cheered, waved handkerchiefs, then spontaneously broke into Argentina's national anthem. The capital's vote was in, and a few hours later, countrywide returns made it official: Dr. Arturo Umberto Illía, 63, was Argentina's new President-elect, after polling 270 electoral votes31 more than the majority he needed. Finally, it seemed, Argentina was a nation again.
His hair a stately white, his face deeply lined, Illia personifies almost everything that Argentina craves and lacks maturity and stability. Ever since the...