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Voters in Argentina have inflicted heavy losses on the ruling Peronist party in the mid-year elections, according to preliminary results, the left-wing party of President Albert Fernandez wants to lose a majority in the Senate after nearly 40 years.
With so many international votes on Sunday, Juntos’ opponents were at the forefront of the Senate race, leading to the removal of the ruling party and disrupting Fernandez’s ability to push for legislation without the support of his opponents.
The Juntos were also at the forefront of minority competitions, including the crucial battle in the densely populated Buenos Aires region, which is often home to the Peronists’ strongholds.
Teresa Bo of Al Jazeera described Sunday’s vote as “a major test in Alberto Fernandez’s leadership, especially after two years of epidemic”.
“The first report we get is that the Peronist Party is about to lose the quorum in the Senate. And this is the history of the ruling party, the first time such a thing has happened since Argentina became a democracy in the 1980s,” he said.
“For Alberto Fernandez, it is very difficult. He has two years left and those two years will be very difficult if the results are confirmed,” he added.
‘Two years ahead’
About 34 million Argentines were eligible to vote in Sunday’s election, which will elect 127 seats nationwide, representing half of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies, with 24 senators in eight constituencies, equivalent to one-third of the Senate. .
Voting went well under the southern hemisphere, but many voters were angry or upset over the 50-percent increase in prices and the extreme poverty exacerbated by the COVID-19 epidemic.
“I know a few people who make enough money to get to the end of the month,” said Ricardo Arese, 69, a security guard at the Buenos Aires headquarters. Her household income has risen 300 percent since 2016, she said, and she sees no reason to be optimistic.
“We are looking forward to two more difficult years ahead.”
“I have come to vote and I hope everything will change. We are tired, “said Mirta Laria, 62, a housewife in Buenos Aires.” Every day we get worse and worse.
Fernandez’s popularity has been hampered by the closure of COVID-19, rising commodity prices and the sharp decline in US dollars despite high inflation. The government has tried to boost aid, announcing last month a deal with private organizations to cut prices on the first 1,500 items, as well as increase minimum wages and family salaries.
Ignacio Labaqui, Argentina’s New York-based analyst for Medley Global Advisors, said a major loss could mean that Fernandez has “little political power, as part of a coalition full of internal grievances and a pile of economic crisis to fix, starting with inflation”.
Argentine Vice President Cristina Kirchner shakes Argentine President Alberto Fernandez’s supporters at the last general election meeting in Merlo, Buenos Aires, Argentina, November 11, 2021 [Matias Baglietto/ Reuters]After casting his vote, Fernandez vowed to fight back regardless of the outcome, although experts say he will fight for the strong wings of his party allied with Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
“Today we hear what people are saying. “Tomorrow … Argentina continues, with all its might to continue to govern and do what we need to do to make the country a better place,” he said.
Since the country’s economic crisis in the early 2000s, which left millions of Argentines poor, many families have relied on the money spent by Peronist governments.
One voter said he was clinging to the ruling party because he felt he was part of a “Peronist family”.
Another voter, Graciela Pacri, a 47-year-old mother of four, said government support was crucial to her survival.
“If it weren’t for the subsidy I have, I don’t know what I would have done as it would have been difficult to get a job,” he said.
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