Latin America
Related: About this forumArgentina: pro-Macri candidate trounced in first electoral test of the year
Gubernatorial primaries held in La Pampa Province, in central Argentina, yielded a resounding defeat for President Mauricio Macri tonight.
Carlos Mac Allister of Macri's right-wing PRO was defeated in the "Let's Change" coalition primary by Congressman Daniel Kroneberger of the centrist UCR.
Kroneberger, 57, defeated Mac Allister by 65% to 35%, and will face off in the May 19 general election with Peronist candidate Sergio Ziliotto - who is favored to win.
Mac Allister, 50, had served as Macri's Secretary of Sports until last October, and his earlier fame as a left-back for some of Argentina's top football clubs had made him one of Macri's most popular surrogates.
His defeat tonight - in a province that narrowly went for Macri in the 2015 presidential runoff - underscores not only growing disapproval; but increasing friction between the PRO and UCR, the main partners in the "Let's Change" coalition that brought Macri to power.
In Santa Fe Province, Argentina's third-largest, a UCR provincial convention this Thursday approved by 93% a motion to withdraw the party from the coalition, bucking an order from UCR President Alfredo Cornejo - a Macri loyalist - that the Santa Fe UCR remain in "Let's Change."
I'll call you if I need you
Numerous UCR leaders have openly called for the party to field its own candidate for president in 2019, rather than endorse Macri.
They cite his disregard for the UCR - on whose votes he won but whose party received just 3% of federal appointments and is seldom consulted on policy matters.
"Let's Change was never established as a true coalition of government but merely as an electoral coalition," UCR Vice President Federico Storani lamented.
"We're useful in (Macri's) search for power but can't discuss social policies. When they're in a pickle, they call you for a photo-op and then disappear."
At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&tab=wT&sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pagina12.com.ar%2F175662-derrota-para-mac-allister-y-macri-en-la-pampa
La Pampa gubernatorial primary candidates Daniel Kroneberger (UCR - centrist) and Carlos Mac Allister (PRO - right-wing).
Kroneberger's landslide (65-35) over Mac Allister, who's closely tied to Macri, underscores not only disapproval for the Argentine president; but growing friction between the PRO and UCR - partners in the "Let's Change" coalition that brought Macri to power.
Macri narrowly won in 2015 on UCR votes but has largely ignored them, relying instead on his hard-right PRO entourage.
Judi Lynn
(160,219 posts)Love the very wide gap between the votes for the candidates. So nice.
Hope the UCR will become more resolved, committed to moving toward their own counsel.
It would be tremendous if they decided they can live without the disrespect.
Hoping Macri won't go for a "shock doctrine" tactic, to shake everyone into line before the campaigns start, to also strengthen his power, and strike fear into dissenters. Hope he doesn't have enough audacity to do that, but he has done horrible things already.
Your new information is something I'm sure a lot of people look forward to seeing. We would not know anything about the events otherwise. Our corporate "news" must be legendary for their total lack of interest in real events in the Western Hemisphere, generally, everything outside the U.S., and cherry picking the events covered right here!
Thank you.
sandensea
(21,530 posts)They certainly have nothing to show, or to offer (except, of course, Trump-style identity politics).
The problem, of course, is that when cornered, these people fight dirty. Sonno tutti mafiosi.
And there's reason to believe they could even resort to fraud:
Macri is seeking approval from the electoral commission to use SmartMatic vote tabulators - the very ones Venezuela's Maduro has been using in what many say are their less-than-transparent elections.
If you ask Macri, he'll definitely tell you were fraudulent. Which begs the question: Why on earth would he even consider imposing the very tabulating machines used in elections he himself believes (or professes to believe) were a fraud!
Opposition lawmakers, led by former Foreign Minister Jorger Taiana, have asked the EU for election observers. You'll recall that already in 2017, there was evidence of doctored precinct summaries (https://www.democraticunderground.com/110861545#post2).
Grazia mille, Judi, for taking the time, and for your keen insights. Ciao!