Argentina looks set for sharp political turn
Region is being rocked by unrest in Chile, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador
Argentina was poised to take another sharp political turn in yesterday’s presidential elections, with centre-left Peronist candidate Alberto Fernandez favoured to oust conservative incumbent Mauricio Macri amid growing frustration over the country’s economic crisis.
Macri was elected president in 2015 as Argentines rejected a successor chosen by former President Cristina Fernandez, who is now running as vice president on the Peronist ticket with Alberto Fernandez. The two are not related.
A victory by the Fernandez ticket would mark another political swing in South America, which has seen conservative governments elected in Brazil, Colombia and Chile in recent years. Cristina Fernandez was considered part of the “pink tide” of leftist governments that arose in the region in the 1990s and 2000s.
Now the region is being rocked by unrest in Chile, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador fuelled by discontent over corruption, inequality and slowing growth.
Poverty under Macri has soared, the value of the local currency has sharply depreciated and the inflation rate remains among the highest in the world.
“We Argentines deserve a better country, with work, where we can live peacefully, above all,” said Antonella Bruna, 32, as she voted at the medical school of the National University of Rosario.
Frustration over the economy has eroded support for the former mayor of Buenos Aires. It has also propelled the candidacy of Fernandez.