Latin America Advisor

Benjamin N. Gedan, director of the Latin America Program and the Argentina Project at the Woodrow Wilson Center: “Peronism is still headed for near-certain defeat in Argentina’s October election, but its choice of economy minister Sergio Massa as its presidential candidate will avoid a humiliating rout. No coalition could expect to remain in power amid triple-digit inflation and negative economic growth, much less in Latin America, where anti-incumbent sentiment is strong. In Argentina, public opinion is at its most negative in two decades. Not surprisingly, neither Argentina’s deeply unpopular president, Alberto Fernández, nor his deeply unpopular vice president, Cristina Kirchner, offered to represent Peronism in the election. By anointing Massa as the coalition’s unity candidate, however, Peronist pooh-bahs accomplished two important objectives: sidestepping a primary brawl in August and downplaying Kirchner’s most divisive and least electable wing of the coalition. Moreover, among Peronism’s moderates, Massa was…”