Argentine Election Time

Outside the Beltway

Argentine Election Time

Steven L. Taylor

October 25, 2015

Comments

Via the BBC: Argentina elections: Voters pick new president.

Candidate basics:

President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has served two consecutive terms and, under Argentina’s constitution, cannot run again.

Her hand-picked successor, left-winger Daniel Scioli, is leading polls.

But he is expected to face stiff competition from Mauricio Macri, the centre-right mayor of Buenos Aires.

Another candidate, Sergio Massa, a former Kirchner ally, is polling behind Mr Macri, while there are three other names on the ballot paper.

And, of course, Kirchner’s husband was president before her, so it has been a while since a non-Kirchner was chief executive of Argentina (since 2003, in fact).

The rules:

To win outright a candidate needs 45% of the vote or a minimum of 40% as well as a 10-point lead over the nearest rival.

Otherwise, there will be a run-off on 22 November.

Side note: Argentina has a federal system and used an electoral college to elect the president until 1994 (one of the few such example outside the US).

2 responses to “Argentine Election Time”

Slugger

October 25, 2015 at 10:08 pm

I have a friend who is an expat. He and his friends see Macri as the main hope for realigning the peso to reality. There is an official exchange rate and the “blue dollar” rate which is substantially higher. As a result commerce is frozen because no one wants the local currency. Stores and restaurants in B.A. often have a placard in their windows with a number representing the exchange rate. The government takes in dollars and issues pesos as a overt way of taxing by collecting the arbitrage difference. People are worried that the transition will be painful, but they think it is needed.
The above paragraph is based on a beer fueled conversation with a friend not a scientific study. In the meantime, “Tengo dolares” is a good way to say hello when getting a steak and a bottle of Malbec.
Andrei Vfeked

October 27, 2015 at 3:27 pm

To win outright a candidate needs 45% of the vote or a minimum of 40% as well as a 10-point lead over the nearest rival. Otherwise, there will be a run-off

I don’t normally look to Argentina for inspiration for electoral reform, but I really like the idea of this system.