Unfortunately this was a busy, busy week where I was unable to post ... so here we are again with the Sunday newspaper report. Interesting weekend, this one, sort of showing society where the headlights will be pointed in the next weeks: the october presidential elections.
La Nación showcased the fact that there will be fourteen (14) presidential candidates for the people to choose from in October. This was known because during the week the official lists were closed and registered by the electoral authorities. Now, you might be asking yourself ... why fourteen candidates? True, most of them are minor candidates who won't reach even 1% of the votes. However, it comes to show just how disorganized the opposition is. There are at least three candidates who should be able to reach 10% of the votes: Lavagna (ex-Economy minister for Kirchner), Carrió (as always, going against the ruling party) and Lopez Murphy (timidly supported by Mauricio Macri, recently elected Mayor of Buenos Aires). All of these candidates together could stand a chance against Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the president's wife, first-lady, senator, and our official foreign representative (recently travelled on Argentina's dime to Brazil, France, Mexico, U.S.A., ...), who is supposed to reach any number above 30-35%.
Secondary news include the Argentinean rugby victory over France and the decrease in economic optimism, as well as the US workers' shorter holidays due to longer work weeks.
Clarín also started the week on a political note, although on a different tone: President
Kirchner has decided to send out his troops (i.e., his current ministers) to present themselves as candidates to different official posts. It is a more personal perspective on the same political newstype, outlining Kirchner's authoritative figure and presenting him clearly as "the man behind the curtains", even if his wife becomes our next president.The secondary news goes to Los Pumas, the same as the other paper we are analyzing. The victory over the French national team was a great boost to Argentine morale, specially at a time when Lofreda's team was undergoing much public scrutiny.
On a distant third level of importance come the investigation on a union officer (and his alleged bank accounts outside the country) and the recent increase of mortgage-rates (fixed rates are close to 15-17% per annum ...).
However it may be, the political tone has been set, and will most likely remain throughout the 8 weeks or so until the election. Who will be the media's candidate? We will see that during September ...
