Peronism loses two out of three provincial elections for governor of Argentina

Only this Sunday, Peronism remained with the regional government of Tucumán (north), while the opposition on the right Together for change – consisting of the Radical Civic Union (UCR) and the Republican Proposal (PRO) – won the elections in San Luis (southeast), the primaries in Mendoza (west) and the parliamentary elections in Corrientes.

The current deputy governor of Tucumán, Osvaldo Jaldo, of the Peronist alliance Frente de Todos, is leading the elections for the provincial executive. Jaldo is the one chosen by Juan Manzur to succeed him in office, with 61% of the votes, after 30.46% of the tables were examined.

These elections come late, after the Supreme Court of Justice lifted the suspension it imposed last May when it challenged Manzur, who sought to be re-elected as deputy governor, saying he had not respected the change in power.

On the other hand, San Luis is inclined to hit the Peronists, because with 52.39% of the votes and 21.31% of the tables counted, the deputy and former governor of the opposition Claudio Poggi takes almost six points from the minister of provincial justice, Jorge Fernández, who is supported by the current government of Alberta Rodríguez Saá.

For his part, Saá’s brother, Senator Adolfo, allied himself with the UCR and the PRO, supporting Poggi.

This represents an important change in the electoral dynamics of the Cuyo territory, which has been governed by Peronism since democracy returned to Argentina in 1983.

At the same time, the national legislator of Radicalism, Alfredo Cornejo, prevailed with a majority of votes in the internal governorship primaries, one step ahead of the provincial generals, in which there will be senators, provincial representatives, mayors and councilors renewed.

The results of these votes served to measure the strength of the opposition at the presidential level, as Cornejo’s victory will continue to control the province held by Cambia Mendoza, the political arm of Together for Change, since 2015.

In Corrientes, with more than 94% of the tables counted, the official ECO Vamos Corrientes alliance – which answers to Together for Change governor Gustavo Valdés – took the majority of votes to restore legislative seats.

Senators of the right Corrientes received 62.11% of the vote and deputies 62.36%, while Peronism within the Frente de Todos received less than half, with 33.07% in senators and 32.83% in deputies.

Last December, Argentina witnessed a historic event: a federal court sentenced Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the nation’s two-time president and current vice president, to six years in prison and permanent disqualification from holding public office for corruption. After the controversies that this caused, citizens’ trust in Peronism crumbled, which would partially explain the rise of the opposition in the elections.