Opposition is imposed to Peronism in parliamentary elections in Argentina

The center-right opposition was imposing on Sunday the center-left ruling party in Argentina’s mid-term elections, key to the control of Parliament in the midst of a serious economic crisis.

With a national vote advanced to 81%, the opposition coalition Together for Change defeated Peronism in the main districts of the country, which will inevitably affect the management capacity of the Peronist president Alberto Fernández and will pave the way for the opposition towards the presidential elections of 2023.

In the province of Buenos Aires, the main district of the country, Juntos por el Cambio obtained 40% of the votes compared to 38.4% of the ruling party, with a local vote advanced to 76.4%.

The opposition obtained 47% of the vote compared to 25% for the ruling Frente de Todos in the Argentine capital, with an advanced count of 92 percent.

The center-right also prevailed in important provinces such as Córdoba, Santa Fe, Chubut and La Pampa, which would leave Peronism without the control of the Senate after almost 40 years.

Congress must soon deal with everything from 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 now be difficult for the Government.

“This is going to have a great repercussion within both the government and the Frente de Todos (ruling party),” political analyst Ricardo Rouvier told Reuters.

After winning with ease in the 2019 presidential elections, the image of Fernandez It 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 its management of the coronavirus pandemic.

“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,” President Fernández told reporters before the results were known.

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 economic and political future of the nation, whose currency suffered a deep fall in recent days.

“I come to vote with the hope that everything will change. We are tired. Every day we are a little worse and the sad thing is that our children only see a way out for their life abroad,” said Mirta Laria, a 62-year-old housewife , in Buenos Aires.

In the elections, 127 seats of the Chamber of Deputies, 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,” Yanina Cabral, 34, who runs a confectionery business in the city of Santa Rosa, province of The Pampa.

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, was in the Senate, where Peronism would lose the majority it has held there since 1983, when the country returned to vote after a bloody dictatorship. The result in low-population regions such as La Pampa or Chubut was decisive for the formation of the Senate.

The 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.

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