Peronism and opposition fight for control of Congress in Argentina’s midterm elections

The center-left Peronism will try to reverse in Sunday’s legislative elections the crushing defeat it suffered in the primaries to maintain its hegemony in the Parliament of Argentina, in the middle of a serious economic crisis.

The vote, which began at 8 a.m. local time (1100 GMT), is key for the future of President Alberto Fernández, whose management capacity could be affected if he loses, and for the center-right opposition, which could see its way to the presidential elections of 2023 if imposed.

“What we ask most of the Argentines is that they go and express themselves so that we can build the country we want. At night we will hear what they have said, “said Fernández after voting in the City of Buenos Aires.

“Tomorrow is Monday and Argentina continues. Tomorrow (we will be) with all the strength to continue governing and doing what we have to do so that the country is well, “he added.

Congress must deal shortly with judicial and tax reforms to an eventual agreement to renegotiate a debt of 45,000 million dollars with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), procedures that could be difficult for the Government after an electoral defeat.

“If the hypothesis were a repetition of the primaries, this will have a great repercussion within both the Government and the Frente de Todos (ruling party). In the Senate, even your own quorum could be lost, ”said political analyst Ricardo Rouvier.

After winning with ease in the 2019 presidential elections, Fernández’s image has collapsed in the last year due to a prolonged economic crisis, with inflation close to 50% -which especially impacted the lower class-, and due to criticism of his management of the coronavirus pandemic.

Disputes within the ruling coalition between Fernández and his powerful vice president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, also generated discontent among voters and added uncertainty to the nation’s economic and political future, whose currency suffered a deep drop in recent days.

“I vote for the opposition. I did not like the Kirchnerist management (by the ruling party) from the beginning and I am supporting any other party that has a chance to consolidate the opposition, “said Nicolás Corzo, a 40-year-old specialist in banking projects in Buenos Aires.

Many experts consider it difficult for the ruling party ‘Frente de Todos’ to reverse the fall it suffered at the hands of the center-right opposition coalition ‘Together for Change’ in the September primaries, which were interpreted as a broad nationwide poll.

In the elections, 127 seats in the Chamber of Deputies will be renewed, out of a total of 257, while in the Senate eight provinces will contest 24 seats out of a total of 72.

“My vote is for the ruling party. I come from a Peronist family and I see that the ruling party is doing things well, ”said Yanina Cabral, 34, who runs a confectionery business in the city of Santa Rosa, La Pampa province.

In the Lower House, where the ruling party has the largest bloc, but not the majority, the balance of forces is expected to be maintained.

The key to the election, however, could be in the Senate: if the result of the primaries is repeated, Peronism could lose the majority it has held there since 1983, when the country returned to vote after a bloody dictatorship.

Although the focus will be on the province of Buenos Aires -the most populated in the country-, on the city of the same name and in districts such as Córdoba and Santa Fe, other regions with less political weight such as La Pampa or Chubut may be decisive for the formation of the Senate.

An opposition victory could generate new risks between the moderate Fernández and his radical vice president, Fernández de Kirchner, although they hardly decide to break the government coalition.

In the midst of severe economic difficulties, many analysts wonder if the government will respond to the elections with an orthodox turn or, on the contrary, with a radicalization to the left.

The first results of the provisional count are expected at 9:00 p.m. local time (2400 GMT).