President Macri's coalition 'ahead' in crucial Argentina mid-term election

[sandensea]

Source: BBC News

Argentina's President Mauricio Macri's coalition looks to be on course to make significant gains in the country's congressional elections.

Partial results show his centre-right 'Let's Change' alliance leading in the capital Buenos Aires, and in 12 out of 23 provinces. More than 33 million Argentines were eligible to vote, which saw a third of seats in the Senate contested, along with half of those in the lower house of Congress. More than 78% of registered voters took part.

Macri was elected by a narrow margin two years ago and he doesn't have an outright majority. His coalition will gain at least 19 seats in the lower house, bringing its total to 105 out of 257, and reach 24 seats out of 72 in the Senate.

This election is being seen as a test of his ability to win re-election in 2019.

The most closely-watched race is in Buenos Aires Province, where the centre-left former President, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, is standing for the Senate. Although trailing Esteban Bullrich, who was Macri's education minister, by 4%, second place was enough for the 64-year-old to win one of the province's three Senate seats, under Argentina's list system.

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-41717100

[Judi Lynn]

1. Not the greatest news, right? I noticed the BBC used the ugliest photo of Cristina they could find!

When that happens, it tells you a little about the partisanship of the publishing organization.

We know they hate her because of her position on Las Malvinas, also Neo-Liberalism.

The country has two years to hope for the right result in the next Presidential election. All they need to get it right is to recall what the last right-wing dictatorship did to the country, not that long ago.

[sandensea]

2. Tonight was indeed a good night for the hard right.

There was Shinzo Abe's strong parliamentary wins in Japan, this far-right Trump clone Andrej Babis (what a name!) in the Czech Republic, and now this.

I think big corporate interests have figured out how not only to promote these far-right types; but more importantly how to prop them up once they're in power. One major way is with waves of teaser-rate lending, as well as by copious stock market purchases - both of which naturally tend to prop up the economy in the short run.

In Macri's case, that means $50 billion in added foreign debt in just 2 years - which has definitely helped the Argentine economy over the last six months or so; but could lead to a serious debt hangover by 2020.

No wonder he's not too keen on running for reelection!

Thanks as always for your insights.

[rpannier]

3. Japan is a poor indicator of how well or poorly the reich does

Japan has never really had a true opposition party. The LDP has ruled Japan for over three-fourths of the post-WW 2 era
The main opposition party was expected to be the Kibo no To Party, which is lead by Tokyo's governor Yuriko Koike. She is very conservative, as a friend of mine put it, "She's Shinzo Abe on almost every issue." She came from the LDP, broke away and formed her own to contest the Tokyo elections -- which her party did very well.
What amounted to a center-left party splintered. The Constitutional Democratic Party did much better than most poeople thought, securing 55 seats, making them the main opposition party (a really weak one)
The Komeito Party, a moderate Buddhist (and probably should be ilegal under the Japanese constitution) got enough seats that in their coaltion with Abe they have the super-majority
I was rather surprised the JCP did as badly as they did, losing almost half of their seats.

Abe's party basically won for three reasons: 1. North Korea, 2. The Snap elections caught Koike's party unprepared and 3. TINA -- There Is No Alternative

[sandensea]

4. Didn't mean to imply that all LDP figures are hard-right.

It's just that from what I've read, Shinzo Abe seems to be breaking the LDP mold a little with his push to privatize state concerns, rewrite the constitution to suit militarists, enhance the Emperor's post, etc.

I understand the LDP has always been conservative (although nothing like our radicalized tea-bag right); but under Abe, it seems to be on a whole new level (correct me if I'm wrong).

I once had a Japanese friend in school (this was in the late '90s, in California) who supported Komeito. "Clean government!" he would say.

"If you think your parliament is bad," I'd tell him, "you ain't seen our speaker (Gingrich) or his GOP congresscritters."