Argentina: The one about politics

Welcome to the second installment of my current series of blog posts which I have given a working title of: "How Tracy Sees Argentina." Today's topic is one that many of us have a love-hate relationship with (some more hate than love, and possibly--though incomprehensibly--vice versa): politics.

This is an election year in Argentina. This past Sunday the citizens of the city of Cordoba voted for their mayor, provincial governor, and other provincial representatives for the next four years, and in October the entire country will vote for president. The winners of Sunday's elections were announced before the day's end; the incumbent governor, Juan Schiaretti, was reelected, winning by a huge margin over his handful of opponents. The candidate from his same party was voted as mayor, perhaps a result of people choosing the easy "check this box and vote for all candidates from party X" option, or so says the word on the street.

Political parties here are not so dichotomous nor established as in the U.S. In fact, the only parties that have consistently presented candidates in Cordoba throughout the past decades have been the radicals. The last time Schiaretti was elected, he ran his campaign with a different party, or at least under a different party name. These ever-changing party names sound more like slogans than titles. Take the recent victors, for example: Hacemos por Córdoba (rough translation: We do for Cordoba). Campaign posters have been scattered on light posts all around the city for the past couple of months. They each follow a similar format: the candidate's name, perhaps a slogan or party name, and a giant headshot. The reason for this is that the election ballots included a photo of each candidate. Voting in the elections is obligatory for all citizens with consequences for not voting involving supposed jail time. Though I perceive a general distrust towards politicians, I've also seen endless government projects around the city and province, a fact which gives the impression that the government is working to improve infrastructure and do good things for their constituents.

We are currently five months out from the presidential elections, and people are still speculating who the candidates will be. The current president, Mauricio Macri, is eligible for reelection, so people have accepted him as an obvious candidate. The most likely opponent is the former president and current senator, Cristina Kirchner. Yes, in Argentina after serving as president one can continue their political career and even be reelected as president after letting someone else do the job for at least one term, a system which might be functional if it weren't for corruption. There aren't any official polls to estimate how people will vote, but people are pretty decidedly either for or against the aforementioned names. Macri leans more to the right, while Cristina leans more left. Whoever wins in October will determine the economic policy for the next four years, an issue of utmost interest for many.

The more experience I have witnessing election processes outside of the U.S., the more I realize how exhausting the elections are in the U.S. where people announce their candidacy on average a year and a half before the actual elections. Speculation for presidential candidates in the next elections in both the U.S. and Argentina, respectively, are happening at the same time. The difference is that Argentina's elections will be held 13 months before the U.S. Uffda. In the U.S. there are primary debates, primary elections, national conventions, and finally the actual election after a series of debates between the party front-runners, not to mention the fundraising, the campaign ads, and the twice or thrice daily emails sent by each candidate that I AM ALREADY RECEIVING. In Argentina they are still deciding if a debate between now and October would be worthwhile. Last Wednesday as I was watching the news, I could not help but let out a laugh when the reporter said, "You can start to feel the buzz of the (provincial) elections in the air." That was five days before the election. Perhaps people don't get as excited about elections when they are forced to vote in a system that they don't entirely trust.

Those are my thoughts for now. I'll save my Venn diagrams comparing the good, the bad, and the ugly of state and national elections in the U.S. and Argentina for another day.