Argentina Presidential Elections: Sunday's Election Could Bring End to 'Kirchnerism'
Sunday's elections in Argentina will mark the beginning of the end of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s administration.
Kirchner, the widow of former President Néstor Kirchner, has served the two consecutive terms allowed by Argentina’s constitution. She will be able run for office again in 2019.
The dozen years of power shared by her and her late husband have been dubbed “Kirchnerism,” a political movement typified by left wing social programs and policies such as “the universal child allowance,” a program passed in 2009 that has become the most accepted social policy in Argentina.
The program is essentially a series of payments given out to poor parents on the condition that they keep their children in school and keep up with their health checkups. Speaking to the Guardian, Graciela Dulcich, the principal of a primary school near Buenos Aires, described the positive affects the program had on its recipients, saying, “The families now feel less marginalized.”
Opponents of “Kirchnerism” blame 12 years of leftist policies for raising inflation and creating an atmosphere of stagnant economic growth.
The BBC reports that while Argentine authorities have estimated that this year’s rate of inflation would reach 14.4 percent, the number is actually closer to 25 percent. According to the Economist, the president has distracted her people from their economic woes by liberally spending on welfare and energy subsidies.
Kirchner’s administration was recently been rocked by controversy as Alberto Nisman, a federal attorney who was found shot dead in his home this year, had accused the president of trying to interfere with an investigation into the 1994 attack on a Jewish organization in which 85 people were killed.
The president had also lately spent much energy trying to gain sovereignty over the Falkland islands, which she maintains belong to Argentina. According to the Guardian, she said, “We will see the islands form part of our territory again. It’s not just wishful thinking.”
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