Elections in Argentina: Buenos Aires, the city that chose Bullrich and rejected “El Loco” Miley

Special Send to Buenos Aires – Damian Ernesto is 53 years old and this will be the first time he votes for someone he really likes. taxi driver Buenos Airesin Argentina, He’s a fan of hardcore Patricia Bullrich He has confidence in the change he promises to bring about without “blowing up everything,” as the liberal claims he wants to do Javier Miley.

The city of Buenos Aires was one of the few cities not completely painted in violet, the color of the coalition Freedom advancesby Miley, As happened in much of the country during the August primaries. The Argentine capital, which has the largest number of voters in the country, still maintains a certain amount of loyalty to the country Together for changeBullrich’s coalition, although the one that performed best in the province of Buenos Aires was the Peronist government. Sergio Massa.

Buenos Aires serves as a showcase for the anti-government coalition administration. Its leader is former President Mauricio Macri, was the city’s mayor before it was launched nationally. Natural path inside Republican Proposal (PRO)Your party. It was expected that the same would happen with… Horacio Rodriguez LarretaHe is the current mayor and tried to run for president. But in the face of Argentine fatigue, it was Bullrich, with his security rhetoric, who won the seat in the primary.

Neither Miley nor Peronism has so far been able to enter the Buenos Aires conflict. “The voters of the city of Buenos Aires are voters who have been voting for many years in the alliance between the Workers’ Party, the Radical Civic Union and the Civic Coalition, which forms Together for Change,” explains the professor of political science at the University of Buenos Aires. University of Buenos Aires, Facundo Galván. “The middle sectors do not tend to vote for Peronist or… Strangers. Historically, the federal capital has been a radical, more progressive and more middle-class electorate.

“The city of Buenos Aires is the conservative sector, it was never ruled by Peronism, it was always governed by conservative parties and it was always more associated with the radical sectors, then with the PRO when it emerged as a party,” agrees political scientist and sociologist Sebastian Cruz Barbosa.

You only have to walk the streets of Buenos Aires, especially in the Palermo and Recoleta areas, to find someone who admires Bullrich. In Ernesto’s case, he had always voted for the opposition and never for Peronism, but he saw Larreta as “more of the same”, a reflection of his fatigue with traditional politics.

Although he comes from one of the most traditional families in Argentine politics, Bullrich says he wins over voters who want change, but without calling for blowing up the central bank.

Reinforcing this preference for “Together for Change” in the city, Jorge Macri, Mauricio Macri’s cousin, is the favorite to win the race for mayor, followed by Leandro Santoro, a Peronist, and Ramiro Mara, Miley’s candidate.

In the PASO (Primary, Open, Synchronous and Compulsory)The Juntos pela Change party won in Buenos Aires with 48% of the vote. União pela Pátria appears with 23.6%, and only then comes Javier Miley with 17%. In the province, the Peronist coalition won 32% of the votes, followed by the opposition with 29%, and then the Advanced Freedom Party with 24%.

Regionally, the winner is Peronism. “Peronism has always had greater chances of winning in the province of Buenos Aires because it is the traditional stronghold, that is, the phenomenon of Peronism, which appeared in the 1940s in Argentina, was born from the womb of the Argentine working class.” And with the working class in urban industries, especially in the province of Buenos Aires,” explains Barbosa, who studies Peronism.

Since the restoration of democracy, the only times when Peronism was not present in Buenos Aires Province were between 1983 and 1987, when the Radical Civil Union ruled, and between 2015 and 2019 when the Radical Civil Union ruled. Maria Eugenia Vidalfrom PRO, took over.

But these regional elections went well for Peroni Axel KiselovHe could be in danger of facing a scandal within his government’s leadership. His then chief of staff, Martin Ensoralde, was caught enjoying a life of luxury alongside a model in Spain.the same week they left New poverty data showed that more than 40% of the population lives below this line.

The scandal rocked Massa’s campaign, which publicly called for Kirchner’s head. In the end, Insoralde abandoned his campaign for mayor of Lomas de Zamora, a city in Greater Buenos Aires, and his position with Kiciloff. But the current governor was criticized because he was not the one who fired the employee.

The case raised tensions within Peronism, especially between Kiselov and the young group called La camporaheaded by Maximo Kirchnerson Christina Kirchner. The two had been at loggerheads for some time, but after the scandal, Cristina needed to intervene directly to avoid a split within the coalition that could lead to a historic defeat in the province.

So far, opinion polls have not shown a strong impact of the issue on Kiselov’s voting intentions. Alongside him are competing for the governorate: Nestor Grintitifrom Juntos pela Mundança, and Carolina Piparofrom Liberdade Avança.

What is clear is the difficulty that Miley faces in attracting this huge number of voters. According to Galván, the fact that he does not have a unified political authority or party apparatus explains why Maile is unable to control the federal capital or the province of Buenos Aires. Together for Change entered the race with the largest budget, and the Peronists have the advantage of having the state machinery on their side.

“Buenos Aires Province concentrates 37% of the electoral pattern only in the suburban area, where the political apparatus of the Justice Party is most important because it is where it is most established,” explains the UBA professor.

“Miley does not have a supervisory apparatus, at least he did not have one in PASO and he does not have strong references in the city councils in the suburbs and this does not help him win many votes either. He has been successful with relatively few of the 130 mayors competing in the province of Buenos Aires, Most of them are little-known figures or have broken away from Peronism, so this also helps to understand their poor performance here in the primaries. We will have to see what happens in the general election,” he adds.

With the intention of winning the first round, Javier Maile ended his campaign in the province of Buenos Aires, having passed through the city of Martin Ensoralde, Lomas de Zamora, on Monday the 16th.

The candidate said during his convoy that toured the country: “We are a few points away from winning the first round, and to achieve that we need the support of everyone who wants change.” “In the province of Buenos Aires, we have a historic opportunity to defeat Kirchnerism and eliminate it forever.”