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Argentine Peronists on the ropes after a central defeat, Reuters reported

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© Reuters. One person votes at a polling station in the midterm elections in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on November 14, 2021. REUTERS / Agustin Marcarian

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By Hugh Bronstein and Nicolás Misculin

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – The Argentine government’s Peronist party was in turmoil on Sunday, with the center-left coalition losing a majority in Congress in a midterm vote for the first time in nearly 40 years and failing to fortify the province of Buenos Aires.

The Conservative opposition, which was badly defeated in the presidential election two years ago, won almost every key race in the legislative vote as voters moved away from the government amid the spiral of inflation and growing poverty.

“Today we have taken a huge step forward,” said opposition mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta of the city of Buenos Aires, who could run for president in the 2023 election. “We have a great opportunity, let’s look forward.”

President Alberto Fernandez, in a speech to the nation, went on the defensive, reaching out to the aisle and demanding “patriotic” cooperation from the opposition, which will now be necessary to move legislation forward in Congress.

In a moderate tone, Fernandez vowed to settle the country’s debt to the International Monetary Fund, tackle the “evil” of inflation and send a long-term economic plan to Congress in early December, which investors and the IMF have sought between negotiations. New agreement with the fund.

“At this new stage, we will deepen our efforts to reach a lasting agreement with the IMF. We need to clear up the uncertainties that come with unsustainable debts of this kind,” Fernandez said in a statement to the nation.

Half of the seats in the lower house and one-third in the Senate went to the polls, as voters were targeted at high levels of poverty that have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the rising inflation that reduces wages and savings.

“I know few people who earn enough money to make it to the end of the month,” said Ricardo Arese, 69, a security guard in the capital city of Buenos Aires. His household spending has risen 300% since 2016, he said, and he sees little reason for optimism.

“We’re seeing two very tough years.”

‘ALL CHANGE’

Voting went well in the spring in the southern hemisphere in sunny skies, but many voters were angry or upside down.

“I am here to vote with the hope that everything will change. We are tired,” said Mirta Laria, 62, a housewife in Buenos Aires. “Every day we get a little worse and it’s sad that our children see nothing but a way out of their lives abroad.”

President Fernandez’s popularity is due to the COVID-19 blockade, a currency that is falling to a minimum against inflation and the U.S. dollar, despite strict capital controls.

Ignacio Labaqui, an Argentine analyst at Medley Global Advisors in New York, said a major loss would leave Fernandez with “little political power” as part of a coalition full of internal grievances and a pile of economic problems. from inflation. ‘

‘PERONIST FAMILY’

The governing coalition had 41 of the 72 seats in the Senate and forms the largest bloc in the lower house. That majority seems to be lost now.

The results of the lower chambers have focused on the densely populated province of Buenos Aires, and the main races for the Senate https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/argentinas-hinterland-where-cows-outnumber-people-could-tip-balance -congress -2021-11-11 They are located in provinces like La Pampa, Chubut and Santa Fe. The opposition was well ahead in almost every vote in those races.

There are 127 seats in the House at stake, out of a total of 257, and there are 24 Senate seats in the eight provinces at stake.

A major bankruptcy weakens Fernandez as he is under pressure to reach a new deal with the International Monetary Fund to pay more than $ 45 billion in debt that the grain-producing country cannot afford.

As the first failure did, it could lead to a cabinet reshuffle and split the government between moderate and radical allies of the influential vice president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

Since the economic catastrophe of 2001/02, which plunged millions of middle-class Argentines into poverty, many families have relied on the social spending of Peronist governments.

One voter said he was still with the ruling party because he felt part of the “Peronist family.”

Another voter, Graciela Pacri, a 47-year-old housewife with four children, said state support was essential to surviving the tough economic times.

“If it weren’t for a grant I had, I don’t know how I would live because it’s hard to find a job,” he said.



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