MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Majority of Argentines believe Cristina Fernandez is losing control of government

The Argentine president will face a great test on N8

A majority of Argentines disapproves of President Cristina Fernandez but more significantly 40% believe she is losing control of her administration and another 20% consider it a fact, according to Sergio Berenztein from the respected pollster Poliarquía.

“The situation is critical. If the government persists with the decisions implemented so far this could lead to a crisis or at the least the sustained erosion could continue”, said Berenztein during a presentation before the Buenos Aires Chamber of Commerce that contracted him to explain what was going on in Argentina.

According to the latest polls from Poliarquía, 40% of interviews indicate that Cristina Fernandez is losing control of her administration and 20% believe she has already lost the control.

“This is the most unfavourable moment for Cristina Fernandez and Kirchnerism” which since the windfall victory of October 2011 has had to deal with the major corruption and influence peddling scandal involving her hand picked Vice-president Amado Boudou; the disastrous management of the railway system which in a recent accident in Buenos Aires main station killed 51 people and her government’s ferocious attempts to restrict foreign exchange and force Argentines to save in Pesos. The so called ‘dollar clamp’ which Cristina Fernandez denies publicly point blank.

Disappointment against her administration has seen (heard) at several spontaneous (through social webs) saucepan banging protests so far from mostly middle and upper class, but the unions are also aligning behind for the next major demonstration scheduled for November 8.

N8 has caused great unease in Government House because intelligence reports indicate it could turn out to be the largest protest against Kirchnerism since 2003, even greater than the one organized in support of farmers in 2008 which convened tens of thousands in Buenos Aires.

Furthermore the insistence with the re-re-election project (which needs a constitutional review) seems to have backfired according to the polls which indicate a massive rejection of the review (66%) and even more of Cristina Fernandez running in 2015 (82%).

Poliarquía also points out that by 2015 the Kirchner couple would have ruled Argentina for over twelve years and a fatigue process is only natural, with a renewal call from voters, which even leaving the current political and economic foundations want fresh faces, a new generation of leaders.

This however has not impeded the ultra ‘K’ to launch the project “Cristina for ever”. Congress member Diana Conti argued last week openly that alternation in office is “nonsense” and should be left for the people to decide.

This generated an immediate reaction from 28 opposition Senators who last week pledged their commitment to reject any proposal from the Executive to review the constitution. This is a powerful barrier until at least December 2013, following the mid term elections when the number could change, although only seven of the 28 seats will renewed in October next year.

No wonder then that senior Senator from Santa Fe, Carlos Reutemann, several times invited to run for the presidential office, and a harsh critic of the current government’s ruling strategy has stated that “the image of President Cristina Fernandez has greatly deteriorated”.

He added that the upcoming legislative elections next year are to be “hugely important and a great challenge for the government” and anticipated that. Buenos Aires province governor Daniel Scioli would be “the candidate to succeed President Cristina Fernández in the 2015 election”.

As to his own presidential aspirations, they have been put ‘on hold’.

“This conversation has been had many a time and it’s not in my best interest to keep talking about it. There are still three years until the elections however, our entrance to the race is for the moment being stored” said Senator Reutemann.