https://socialistaction.org/2019/11/01/elections-in-south-america-not-much-changes/
Elections in South America: Not much changes
Socialist Action / 10 hours ago
By LAZARO MONTEVERDE
Reporting for Socialist Action from Valparaiso, Chile
Bolivia, Argentina, and Uruguay all held national elections in October.??
The result, not much change in the Southern Cone of South American.
Bolivia
Bolivia was the first to hold elections on October 20.?? President Evo
Morales ran for reelection along with his MAS [Movimiento al
Socialismo/Movement towards Socialism] party, facing his toughest
opposition since taking the presidency in 2006. Running against former
president Carlos Mesa, Morales won 46.85% of the votes compared to
Mesa???s 36.74%. Because Morales beat the second place finisher by more
than 10% of the votes, he won under Bolivian law and the top two vote
getters did not have to face off in a second round election.
The opposition immediately claimed fraud.?? International observers from
the Organization of American States (OAS) expressed ???grave concerns???
about election irregularities.?? Conflict broke out in the streets of the
major cities between supporters of Morales and supporters of Mesa.
Pro-Mesa students attacked the building housing the national election
commission [Tribunal Supremo Electoral], setting fire to the building.??
Morales mobilized the Bolivian Special Forces to guard the building.
Supporters of Mesa also declared a national work stoppage.?? Morales
initially accused the opposition of trying to engineer a coup against
his government. As of this writing (31 October), Morales agreed to an
audit of the election results by the OAS.?? Mesa immediately rejected the
OAS recount, demanding that the results of the elections be voided.
Given Mesa???s statements and the actions of his followers, it does appear
that they are attempting a soft coup against Morales and MAS.
The root of the conflict is a battle between two models or versions of
capitalism.?? Morales has been good for the capitalist development of
Bolivia. Under his rule, Bolivia has sustained significant economic
growth. Some of the main beneficiaries of that growth have been the
indigenous majority of the country and the growing middle class. Morales
has adopted a set of Keynesian policies and national investment
strategies that contrasts with the neoliberal model of Mesa. Both
politicians have supported policies that damage the environment.?? The
differences in who they represent and what they propose to do are
significant, but they exist within a capitalist framework.
Argentina
Argentina was the second country to hold elections. Here the
Peronist-Kirchner coalition Everyone???s Front [Frente de Todos] and their
candidate for president Alberto Fernandez defeated the Together for
Change [Junto por el Cambio] coalition of current president Mauricio
Macri.?? Fernandez and his vice-presidential candidate, former president
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, soundly defeated Macri 48.1% of the
votes against 40.4%. Politically Macri has been on the hard right, along
with Brazil???s president Jair Bolsonaro.
As with Bolivia, the two major coalitions represent different models of
capitalism:?? the Keynesian social welfare model of the winning coalition
versus the neoliberal model of Macri.?? The election of Fernandez and
Fernandez de Kirchner (they are not related) has raised hopes in
Argentina for the reunification of Peronism.?? Fernandez himself is
something of a political chameleon.?? He immediately started moving right
after his election.?? Perhaps the one bright spot was the fourth place
finish of the revolutionary socialist coalition of the United Left Front
[Frente de Izquierda ???Unidad].?? Their presidential and vice presidential
candidates from the Socialist Workers Party (Partido de Trabajadores
Socialistas} and the Workers Party [Partido Obrero] won 2.2% of the
votes, over 561,000 votes cast for a revolutionary party.?? This is the
third election that the Left Front has participated in, having fielded
candidates in the 2011 and 2015 presidential elections.?? Both of their
candidates are members of the Argentine congress.
Uruguay
The third nation to hold elections in October was Uruguay.?? On October
27 the ruling Broad Front [Frente Amplio] candidate Daniel Martinez won
approximately 41% of the vote while his chief rival from the National
Party Luis Lacalle Pou, won 30% of the vote. The Broad Front is a
center-left political party which has adopted a number of progressive
social measures, such as the legalization of marijuana and gay rights.
The National Party is a traditional party of the Uruguayan ruling class
and is a center-right political party aligned with Christian Democracy.
Under Uruguay???s election system, the top two candidates will have a
run-off election on November 24. The Broad Front lost seats in both the
Senate (-2) and the lower chamber of the Uruguayan congress (-8), both
significant losses. The third and fourth place finishers, representing
the right and far-right in Uruguay, won 13% of the vote and 11% of the
votes, respectively. These political parties now plan to support Lacalle
Pou in the second round. Public opinion polls show that the Broad Front
will lose the run-off election.
The elections in Latin America have become increasingly ???Americanized???
with U.S. style campaigns and the voters choosing between the lesser of
two evils. In cases such as Bolivia and Argentina, voters are choosing
between two models of capitalism, which is a real choice, albeit one
that treats capitalism as an inevitability.?? What is needed here in
Latin America, just as it is needed in North American, is a democratic
and revolutionary socialism.
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November 1, 2019 in Uncategorized.
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