• Elections Argentina, polarized between Mauricio Macri and Cristina Kirchner

It is cold in Buenos Aires, a lot, but the interior temperature of the Argentines is high, strikingly high in the face of an election that is formally only a general rehearsal. This is not the case: the Simultaneous and Compulsory Open Primary (STEP) that will begin to elucidate who occupies the Pink House since December 10 arrive, in sports terms, with end voltage. And they are only the fourth, with a semifinal in the first round of October 27 and a probable definition on November 24 in ballot.

Notably polarized, the Argentine society must begin to decide if it wants Mauricio Macri to add another four years to the front of the country or if he gives Alberto Fernández a chance, the Peronist candidate hand-picked by Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, president between 2007 and 2015 and that the vice presidency reserved for itself. Macri reacted by co-opting another Peronist, Miguel Ángel Pichetto, a veteran spokesman in the Senate, as his formula partner. Whatever happens, there is a highly positive fact, and that is that Macri reached the end of his term, something that had not happened since 1928 with a democratic president and not a Peronist. Ninety-one years that give an idea of ​​the institutional marasmus in which Argentina lived in the last century . But Macri and his social-liberal coalition, Together for Change, want more, as columnist Fernando González explained in 'Clarín' this weekend: "Become the first president to end his administration with Peronism in the opposition and, in addition, to defeat him again to get his re-election would bring him closer to the unthinkable stature of a historical leader. "

Something is true: Macri asked that the measure of his mandate be the poverty index, and in that he failed . After lowering it from 32% in 2015 to 25.7% in 2017, this year it will end up with equal or worse figures than the end of Cristina's eight years. In between, in 2018, there was a mega devaluation of the peso that boosted inflation and shook the foundations of the government. That in that context Macri can win reelection is a small miracle of politics. Or the sample, in fact, that the Argentines care a lot about the economy, but it is not the only scale to decide their vote. Partly that is why Macri was excited and energetic at the same time in recent days, with a campaign that sells, especially, future: we are working well, the road is bitter, but we will be better.

After a strikingly poor start, in which he fought with several journalists and spent his time explaining that if he wins the power will be in him, and not in his vice president, Fernández managed to settle. The key was to appeal to the Leliq, some bonds issued by the Central Bank that offer a remarkable return (rates of 60% per year in a country of 40% inflation per year) and are used to "dry" the square of pesos and prevent these from going to the purchase of the dollar, the measure of everything in the Argentine economy. Fernández took advantage of the general ignorance of what the Leliq are and said that he will drastically reduce his interests and that, with the money saved, he will increase pensions by 20%. In the following days he would continue to break promises, all at the expense of the Leliq. It sounds unfeasible what he proposes, but it is effective in terms of providing votes.

Other expectations

Beyond Macri and Fernández, the expectation is set in the 'performance' of the formula headed by veteran Roberto Lavagna, Minister of Economy in the months after the hecatomb of 2001 and the man who managed to resume the path of growth in the country after the very severe previous adjustment. José Luis Espert , an economist who combines brutal sincerity with an anarchist air, and Manuela Castañeira, for the Left Front, also aspire to exceed 1.5% of the votes to be in the October national election, which will renew provincial governments , municipal and half of Parliament.

On the Friday before the elections, the stock market climbed 8% and lowered the country risk, a positive signal, as the government feared economic instability in the face of electoral uncertainty. But the issue that brought everyone's interest together was the unusual final stretch of the campaign. Between Thursday and Friday, the hashtag #YovotoMM became the first global trend. It seemed a positive fact for the ruling party, but Peronism soon began to retweet absolutely unlikely tweets, born in accounts with clearly Anglo-Saxon names and profiles and in a Macaroni Castilian . "Satisfy Mauricio, don't relax! I choose you. Meaningful caress from Hurlingham!" Wrote an alleged lady named Lavonne Smythsorsmith. It is as if an Amber Lindsay or a Tyrone Clemens greeted from Vallecas asking for the vote for Pedro Sánchez or Pablo Casado.

The hashtag #SatisfaceAMauricio became a 'trending topic' in Argentina . All blame for the famous "bots", the possibility that a single person manipulate thousands of accounts of these robots in social networks. "Won't they think that it was us?" They said from the Casa Rosada to EL MUNDO.es. Given the rudeness of the tweet deployment, it is difficult to think about it, because the official coalition is, by far, the best managed in the virtual world. The campaign auction, in any case, had the virtue of making the whole country laugh. It is not little in an always tense Argentina.

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  • Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
  • Mauricio Macri
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