Argentines vote in primaries, with neo-fascist candidate ahead
Argentina voted in primary elections today that will determine the final candidates for a presidential ballot on October 22nd, and give a clear gauge on the likely final result as the country battles a swirling economic crisis.
Some 27 presidential candidates are running, as well as 4,168 contenders for 130 congressional and 24 senate seats. All candidates need a minimum 1.5% of the vote to be eligible for the general election.
Outgoing President Alberto Fernández decided not to run for re-election as he suffers from rock-bottom approval ratings amid annual inflation of more than 100% - partly the result of a foreign debt crisis inherited from his right-wing predecessor, Mauricio Macri, in 2019.
Headline candidates
The two main political blocs faced internal leadership battles, and the vote determined who will lead the main right-wing opposition coalition Together for Change - in which center-right Buenos Aires Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, 57, lost to hard-line former Security Minister Patricia Bullrich, 67.
With 65% of the vote counted, Bullrich bested Larreta by 17% to 10.6%.
Bullrich will run against the ruling, center-left coalition Union for the Homeland, where Economy Minister Sergio Massa, 51, trounced leftist challenger Juan Grabois, 40, by 20.8% to 5%.
The primary also revealed how much traction right-wing populist candidate Javier Milei, 52, has gained with voters - with the fiery economist garnering a stunning 32.2%. An admirer of former U.S. President Donald Trump, Milei has attracted voters with an anti-establishment message that has particularly resonated with the young.
Winter of discontent
Over 35 million Argentines were registered to vote in this year's primaries.
Popular discontent depressed turnout somewhat, which at 69% was some 7 points below the last presidential primary in 2019.
Widespread faults with the electronic voting system used in Buenos Aires for that city's local elections led to long lines in some precincts - prompting Federal Judge María Servini de Cubría to announce a criminal probe.
The Change primary in Buenos Aires' mayoral primary - almost tantamount to election outright - pitted right-wing candidate Jorge Macri, 58 (a cousin of the former president), against centrist Senator Martín Lousteau, 52.
With 95% of the vote in, Macri was ahead by 1.4%.
At: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/8/13/argentinians-set-to-vote-in-presidential-primary-what-to-know
Leading Argentine presidential candidates Sergio Massa (center-left), Horacio Rodríguez Larreta (center-right), Patricia Bullrich (hard-right), and Javier Milei (far-right).
Representing the governing coalition, the pragmatic Massa will face off against the hard-line Bullrich and the neo-fascist Milei in general elections this October.
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The Buenos Aires city constitution is unambiguous: that all mayoral candidates must have been born in Buenos Aires, or have lived there continuously (as a citizen, of course) for at least five years.
That greasebag's neither!
He was born in Tandíl, a small city about 200 mi south (like Mauricio, because the Macris own a large estate there); and for the last 12 years has been mayor of Vicente López - an upscale, neighboring suburb.
Jorge did recently but an apartment in uptown Buenos Aires - as if that made any difference.
But the right-wing voters in BA have zero self-respect, besides being laughably uninformed. A lot of them actually think Vicente López is "a Buenos Aires neighborhood" - they are that dimwitted.
Trust me: like our Republicans, most are racist snobs who think they know everything.
Which is ironic, since Jorge Macri (unlike his very white cousin), looks like a casting reject for Scorsese movie.
Acts like one, too.
Oh, well. Qué será.
Thanks as always, Judi, and have a great week - and hopefully not too hot. 
They really don't look related at all!
A quick look at Jorge Macri's google images reveals he turns his mitts loose whenever he speaks and they fly around, constantly in motion, continually, as he yammers effusively. Easy to see he leans way into his ethnicity, probably to seem more interesting, and makes up for a scarcity of information with loudness, and dramatics! Seeing several photos of them together, it looks as if Mauricio is actually a little embarrassed to be around him!
Just found a photo comparing Mauricio Macri to Dirty War Dictator Videla! Yikes!
You opened a window to the fascist right in Argentina, and some real illumination started flowing through,
explaining so much about how it's unlikely the same class which sponsored the atrocities and horror of the Dirty War against the working class clearly is going to be around far longer than the world could actually appreciate!
Just looking at the architecture in the larger cities tells anyone there has been a lot of money in Argentina for a long time, and people like that wouldn't be likely to budge or share the country with others as long as they live!
Their similarity to US Republicans starts to come into much clearer focus! Wow.
Here's hoping industries and ordinary people will start making the necessary changes immediately after seeing we have all shared a summer intensely unlike ALL others, and the world can't afford another. Fall can't get here soon enough!
Enjoy the coming weekend, as well, peppertree, and thank you!
P.S.: Your sketch of the cousin appears to have hit the nail precisely on the head! He most certainly does look like a stereotype!
