MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina Pos-Nigeria

As anticipated the opposition Peronist party and the blank ballots were the outstanding points of this Sunday's legislative election in Argentina.

First results indicate that the Peronists Party will have a majority in the Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate, which for the first time was elected by direct balloting.The "protest" vote as the blank ballots are described by the Argentine press, reached a national average of 10/12%, with the exception of the City of Buenos Aires where projections indicate a record 25%.

But besides the "protest" message expressing discontent with the overall political system, all elected candidates seemed to coincide in their criticism of the current economic policies implemented by Mr. Domingo Cavallo.

However in a national conciliatory speech following the election, president De la Rúa expressed support for those policies, and by extension to Mr. Cavallo. Nevertheless Mr. De la Rúa invited party representatives to a political dialogue to consider the new situation.

Similarly the big winners, particularly several Peronist governors who rule the leading provinces and are hopefuls for the 2003 presidential election, were quiet cautious in their statements and promised governance, inviting Mr. De la Rúa to have the courage to change policies.

An example of that prudence was give by Mr. Eduardo Duhalde elected the leading Senator in the province of Buenos Aires, who anticipated he will not accept becoming president of the Senate, and therefore Argentina's vice-president, because "I completely disagree with the president's economic and social policies".

New controversial announcements concerning the economy, --basically to honor the zero-deficit policy-- are expected this week.

Last Friday closing markets decided Argentina's risk factor matched Nigeria's 1,880. It's now up to the elected Congress and provincial Legislatives to prove markets are completely out of touch with reality.