@telesurenglish
#ArgentinaElections
50,89% of votes counted
Macri: 53,81%
Scioli: 46,19%
http://bit.ly/1T8IJPm
#Elecciones2015

And it was actually pretty close.

With 98.7% of precincts in Macri led with 51.4%, to Scioli's 48.6%. Turnout was 81%, which meant that around 26 million people voted.

http://www.resultados.gob.ar/balotage/dat99/DPR99999A.htm

Scioli actually won in 16 of 23 provinces, with Macri taking 7 and the City of Buenos Aires. Macri, however, really ran up the score in the City of Buenos Aires (65%) and Córdoba Province (71%) - two relatively high-income districts and bastions of conservatism (as well as racism) in Argentina. Macri's margin in Córdoba was in fact so high (over 900,000) that it alone accounted for his victory tonight (which was by 700,000 or so).

The night's real winners though - even more than the 1% who are mostly salivating right now (except for manufacturers, which Macri will surely pummel) - were actually the three big media groups in Argentina, which after 7 years of relentless attacks against Cristina Kirchner, finally has something to show for them other than damaging Argentina's reputation abroad.

Well done, señores. See you in the Macrisis a year or two from now.

Last edited Mon Nov 23, 2015, 04:14 PM - Edit history (1)

Macri is a right-winger and, true to form, a laissez-faire privatizer who's promised the rich a windfall at everyone else's expense (by way of a shock devaluation), and of course a race-baiter.

The man he narrowly defeated (Scioli) is a centrist who ran on the social-democratic Front for Victory (FpV) ticket widely credited with revitalizing Argentina since they were first elected in 2003. Scioli and the FpV, as it happens, are staunch Peronists - the populist, pro-labor party formed in 1945 by Juan and Evita Perón.

This election resembled the U.S. election in 2000 in some ways. Bear with me:

Like Gore, Scioli had a good personal reputation and a fairly strong economy (2.8% growth, near-record consumer confidence) on his side. He was also supported by Pope Francis, who's asked him to "fight savage capitalism" in his campaign for the presidency.

But like Dubya, Macri had the church heirarchy, the banks, big business, and, most importantly, big media on his side - not to mention a relentless and well-financed Limbaugh-style attack machine. And if you needed more similarities between Macri and Dubya, he's also a rich brat whose party is called Republican Proposal. A veritable south-of-the border GOP.

Of course, it remains to be seen how much of the IMF agenda he will be able to implement. These new policies would include, but are not limited to:

*quashing collective bargaining,
*curtailing benefits and public mortgage programs,
*cutting health and education,
*privatizing and outsourcing,
*and a sharp devaluation which would bring a windfall to the rich at the cost of severe recession (prices and credit costs would jump).

Already, consumer credit is being curtailed and wholesale prices reportedly soaring on the mere expectation of a devaluation.

And many are the same IMF recipes that caused the country's much-publicized collapse in 2001.

Argentina resembles the U.S. ethnically and culturally. They have a lot of the same political problems with the right the U.S. has: many white, middle-class voters will support the far right - even at their loss - because they see progressives as people who coddle "lazy blacks" (sound familiar?). That, of course, worked in Macri's favor.

But in Argentina especially, those who forget history...

God knows I wouldn't have gotten anything balanced from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which is supposed to be the more liberal paper, compared to Tribune Media.

None of the MSM bother doing their job. They are more interested in talking points against "leftist" government (thus, supporting what we should be afraid of here).

...which is precisely not to let us know too much about what is going on...

And, from the looks of it, they've got them all on board...

I don't think we'll ever be getting the old one back....