MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
On Sunday 33.8 million Argentines will decide if they still believe in populism
Alberto Fernandez and Cristina Fernandez 
Mauricio Macri and Miguel Angel Picheto Argentines are facing what is probably the tightest presidential race since the return of the country’s democracy in 1983 with conservative President Mauricio Macri facing an opposition ticket including ex-President Cristina Fernández, and the primary elections Sunday are expected to provide a hint of who might win October’s vote.
Party primaries are closely watched in Argentina because they are held simultaneously and voting is mandatory, so they are seen as referendum on candidates’ popularity, and effectively an early poll involving the entire electorate, with 33.841.837 Argentines registered to vote.
Luis Tonelli, a political science professor at the University of Buenos Aires said there hasn’t been an electoral process “this close and with this much uncertainty” since a seven-year military dictatorship ended in 1983, when contrary to all forecasts, the hegemonic and powerful Peronist movement lost to the Radicales of ex president Ricardo Alfonsín.
Markets could go up or down depending on whether the business-friendly Macri or populist Alberto Fernández and ex president Cristina Fernández poll favorably on Sunday. Alberto Fernández was the former president’s chief of staff during her initial term from 2007-2011, and she surprised many people when she announced that she would be the vice-presidential candidate while he runs for president.
If no candidate wins outright in October, there would be a November runoff.
Anyhow the dispute also involves the recent past and Macri's attempted economic reforms which have led Argentina into recession, and austerity, helped out with the support of a US$ 57 billion stand-by loan from the IMF, and the populism of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who has been hounded by corruption allegations and is rejected by a significant percentage of the electorate. She faces a series of trials, including accusations of bribes in exchange for public works projects.
During the campaign, Macri has pounded and pounded that the choice will determine whether Argentina “continues moving forward or returns to the past.”
Cristina Fernández counters that Argentines need to leave behind their current “ugly” reality. “I never thought I’d see entire families living on the street again,” she said adding that “hunger in Argentina is worse than in Venezuela”.-
The latest opinion polls before the 72-hour ban before voting day showed a rise in Macri’s approval rating in recent months, but not yet enough to top the Fernández/Fernandez ticket.
A total of ten presidential tickets are registered for Sunday’s primaries but Macri and the Fernandez tickets monopolize some 80% of the vote. Parties that get less than 1.5% of the overall votes cast in the primary won’t appear on the October ballot.
Some interesting facts about Sunday's voting day: 37% is the proportion of the country’s total voters who reside and are registered in the critical Buenos Aires province area, excluding the city itself. The province with the next most voters is Córdoba with only 8.68% of the electorate. But winning Buenos Aires province is crucial.
The number of Argentine democratically elected presidents in history is 38, though this rises to 49 if military dictators are included. Since famed leader Juan Peron in the 1950s, there have been only six non-Peronist leaders, none of whom have completed their term. Mauricio Macri would be the first, and if reelected an even greater plus for the Argentine democracy.
On Sunday turnout is expected to be between 70/80%. Four years ago it was 80.77%. The voting hours in the primary election on Aug. 11 are from 08:00 to 18:00 with results beginning to trickle out after 9 p.m.
Next October 27, the presidential hopeful must obtain 45% of the vote to avoid a second round run-off in November, or get 40% with a 10-point lead over second place.
In 2015 Macri won the runoff with a difference of 678.774 votes, an estimated 2.7%. However he had previously lost both, the primary by some eight percentage points and the first round.
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Read all commentsAllthough Peron, and the peronism that ensued, had his roots in fascism, there came some decent and notable men that subscribed to justicialism yet were democratic and believed in institutions. These people I respect. I reject Peronism as an idea. I accept it as a reality.
Aug 11th, 2019 - 07:46 pm +3Sauron's 13 points program is just what will get this country up and running again. If you carefully look into it, you will find the relevance of bringing dignity back to the working class.
Elitism is what we have today. Rich union leaders, protected enterpreneurs and political accomplices. It is then that this unholy “trinity” must be disrupted.
Just ponder how much money do unions run through their leaders sticky fingers? A mere 10% decrease in social deductions would put more meals in the hand of workers, far away from ambicious union crooks.
Your move.
That's the point. No pindonga or Cuchuflito. Let's suppose for a minute you are looking for a job and have a set of skills. Would you go out and try to compete at something you are not good at?
Aug 12th, 2019 - 12:05 am +3Now let's suppose it is Argentina who is looking for a job, which activities would you pursue? What are we good at besides growing crops?
Are we any good at consumer electronics? No
Are we good at manufacturing mechanic parts? Definitely
Are we good at transforming crops into processes foods? We are great at that.
Are we good at engineering? Yes.
I'm not saying that we can turn a “cabecita negra” into an engineer or skilled designer overnight. However, with the right amount of capital, many of these activities could have a tremendous impact on creating jobs in the short term. In fact, despite the current adverse economic climate, this areas still show a slow but steady growth.
I will give you a small example of an area in which unskilled and/or marginalized people can be quickly included and also have a chance to learn: Application Testing. Demand on this keeps on growing and in many cases it is an activity which can be carried out by using a low end smart phone, a device which most unskilled people can handle.
That is just an example out of many activities that are carried out by some SMEs and startups. Another big area of growth -besides the current delivery apps- are “targeted services”. This last one is about filling the gap of corporate business processes for which big enterprises are too slow or dumb to solve. Whomever can read and add/subtract can do this. Even if you haven't had any contact with a computer before, handling a mouse and a keyboard can be learned at he job in two weeks. Huge demand.
I could go on all night about all sorts of activities in several other fields like energy recycling (yes, you heard that right), micro assemblies, etc but am reaching the char limit.
A vos no te va tan mal, gordito ...
Aug 10th, 2019 - 02:20 pm +2Commenting for this story is now closed.
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