The latest data says she obtained approximately 45% of votes, a 20pt gap against her closer adversary, multi-faceted Lilita Carrió or ex-Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna, well above Rodriguez Sáa, Sobisch and Lopez Murphy. The leading Frente Para la Victoria party apparently has also won the governor election for the Province of Buenos Aires (the largest in the country, with 10 million voters) with an outstanding victory from vice-president Daniel Scioli.
The papers today already clearly stated that the best hope for the opposition was to reach a
second round: while La Nación drily said that today Kirchner's successor would be chosen, and Clarín openly stated that at best, the opposition could hope for a ballotage, apparently discounting the leading party's victory.The other news are mainyl sports - as is typical in weekends: La Nación chose the local rugby tournament and Clarín chose Carlitos Tevez's excellent performance in the Manchester United victory yesterday in the Premier League.
The truth of the matter is that the opposition has let this opportunity slip through their fingers: their unwillingness to unite - maybe to avoid the 1999 to 2001 Alianza scandal, too fresh in people's minds - and to bridge the gap between their differing ideas strengthened Cristina Kirchner. Besides the good economic momentum - much like 2003 but with weaker growth perspectives and many more problems in the horizon - the Kirchner couple was consistent and worked around their weaknesses, while managing to avoid getting too burnt with the corruption scandals (Skanska, Antonini Wilson, Indec, etc.).
Argentina hails its new president. The oppostion has 4 more years to get their act together if we are ever to reach a system of "alternating" parties, like other developed countries. Until then, we will resemble more a monarchy than a republic; autocratic rather than democratic. Let's hope we are wrong, and let's hope our newly-elected president will begin solving the real issues for the people - now that, for the first time ever, she can't blame her predecessor.
