Issued on: Modified:
Frustration over a bruising economic crisis and rising poverty has eroded support for Argentinas pro-business incumbent ahead of Sundays presidential election and boosted a populist challenger whose victory would mark a tilt to the center-left in a region rocked by political upheaval.
Advertising
Read more
Polls have President Mauricio Macri trailing Peronist party candidate Alberto Fernández, whose surge has rattled financial markets and drawn attention to a possible return to high office of his vice presidential running mate – former President Cristina Fernández. The two are not related.
Macri took office in 2015 promising to root out corruption and eliminate poverty but is now seeking a second term amid increasing poverty, a sharp depreciation of Argentinas peso and one of the worlds worst inflation rates.
He is shouldering most of the blame from voters for the economic woes and they made their frustration clear in primaries in August, when Macris share of the votes cast trailed Fernández by a nearly 16-percentage point margin.
Argentinas unique party primaries – in which all voters cast ballots – are seen as a barometer of support for candidates ahead of its presidential election.
The surprisingly poor performance by Macri caused stocks to plunge and the peso depreciated even more on the possibility of a return to the interventionist economic policies of Cristina Fernández, who governed Argentina from 2007 to 2015.
Alberto Fernández was her chief of staff early in her first term.
In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Alberto Fernández dismissed concerns by investors and some Argentines that he would be unduly influenced by his former boss.
“I dont see a conflict there,” he said. “Argentinas problem is not Cristina. Its what Macri has left behind.”
Virtually all recent polls have given Fernández more than 50% support, which would give him a first round victory without a runoff vote.
A win by the Fernández ticket would mark a shift leftward in South America, which has seen conservative governments elected in Brazil, Colombia and Chile in recent years. Cristina Fernández was seen as a member of the “pink tide” of leftist governments that arose in the region in the 1990s and 2000s.
Now the region is being rocked by unrest in Chile, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador fueled by popular discontent with the status quo.
Macri is credited with returning Argentina to global credit markets for the first time since its worst economic crisis in 2001-2002. Mariel Fornoni, director of the consultancy Management & Fit, said the president also has opened new markets for Argentina around the world, strengthened its institutions and improved security.
But his main failure has been the economy, Fornoni said. The World Bank forecasts that Argentinas economy will contract 3.1% this year. More than a third of the country is poor, unemployment is at 10.6%, and inflation is expected to hit 55% this year.
“Poverty has become a big problem,” Alberto Fernández said. He promised to rebuild the economy by pursuing “a policy of agreements” among different economic and social sectors.
Argentinas economy improved slightly in 2017. Then a severe drought damaged crops in the country, which is one of the worlds top suppliers of grains. The economy suffered another blow when the trade war between the United States and China led investors to pull back from emerging markets like Argentina.
Faced with a weakening peso, Macri was forced to seek a record $56 billion bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund. The unpopular move brought back bad memories for Argentines who blame the IMF for encouraging policies that led to the countrys Read More – Source
