Argentina: the very personal defeat of Alberto Fernández in the primaries
The president and vice-president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández and Cristina Kirchner, on the night of September 13 in Buenos Aires.
AFP - MAXIMILIANO LUNA
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
The awakening is difficult, this Monday, September 13, 2021 for the government of Argentine President Alberto Fernández, which recorded an unexpectedly large defeat on Sunday in the primary elections, a kind of life-size test before the confirmation by the ballot box during the legislative elections and partial senatorial elections next November.
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The Peronists
lost
the primaries throughout Argentina, in 17 out of 24 provinces, and were even beaten in those which were traditionally loyal to them, their strongholds, including the province of Buenos Aires, around the capital of the same name.
A defeat of very bad omen, of which the head of the federal state took note.
Alberto Fernández hopes to be able to reverse the trend before the elections on November 14, which now promise to be a high risk for his party and its allies.
Alberto Fernández, president of the Argentine nation, on the evening of the defeat
Today the people have spoken. And he did it in a very special context, because we continue to live with a pandemic that makes life difficult for us. But despite everything, we managed, in agreement with other political parties, to carry out these elections. It seems obvious that there are things we haven't done well. Everyone here has heard the verdict of the voters. We listened to him with respect and with great attention, because we know full well that we have made mistakes and that we can no longer make them. We learn from our mistakes. In addition, there are requests that we have not been able to respond to. So, starting tomorrow, we will respond to these requests and resolve the issues raised by voters.
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Very anchored historically in the electorate, the camp of Mr. Fernández and its vice-president Cristina Kirchner did not expect such a debacle.
It would be a sanction vote in the face of the Covid-19 crisis management by the Frente de Todos coalition.
This is in substance the analysis of Sébastien Velut, professor of geography at the Institute of Higher Studies of Latin America (Paris III University), and specialist in Argentina, interviewed by Véronique Gaymard, of the international service of RFI.
Argentina, and in particular President Fernández, have taken measures to protect the population, containment, restrict mobility, which were not well experienced, but which above all generated an unprecedented economic crisis, in all. particularly serious case, with a very deep recession and an
explosion of poverty
. And that, people live it and people see it, although it can be said on the other hand that if these measures had not been taken, there would have been more deaths. The second thing in managing the pandemic is that despite the efforts that have been made, the
vaccine strategy
has not been fully effective, and a number of critics suggest that Argentina has been the country that has mismanaged the immunization situation in Latin America the most.
So both an economic crisis and confusion in the management of the pandemic and the vaccination.
In April 2020, barely arrived at Casa Rosada and already confronted with SARS-CoV-2, the president had in particular this sentence: "
I prefer to have 10
% more poor, rather than 100,000
dead.
Because death, he added, we cannot get over it.
At that time, it was the beginning of autumn in Argentina, and the human toll of the crisis seemed to plead for the president.
But since then, more than 113,400 people have died from Covid-19 in the country, or nearly 2,500 per million inhabitants.
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The “longest quarantine in the world” has been there, with situations bordering on constitutionality.
An unprecedented ordeal in this already mined country, especially in Buenos Aires and the province of Buenos Aires, the most populous.
The president could hope that the current data of the Covid-19 epidemic, in marked improvement since June 2021, and the recovery of the vaccine policy, would go in his direction, after much trial and error for more than a year.
But there have also been scandals, in particular the resignation of its Minister of Health, symbol of a dominant class serving itself before others in matters of vaccination.
As well as a large family meal for the Fernández couple in full confinement.
The primary elections in Argentina are always a very informative dress rehearsal organized before the official polls.
In November 2021, almost half of the seats of deputies and a third of the country's senators will be renewed.
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Argentina
Alberto Fernandez
Cristina Kirchner
Coronavirus
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In the headlines: in Argentina, the defeat of the government of Alberto Fernández