Buenos Aires’ presidential election system is much more involved than the U.S’s, allowing for more candidate options, requiring more participation by the citizens, and does more to prevent split votes. Right now, there are 8 candidates for president, excluding the incumbent, Cristina Krichner. Tomorrow, the (native-born) citizens vote to pare it down to 4, and will keep voting until they have only one opposition candidate in October, when they finally choose their new leader (citing one of my apartment’s doorsmen here). All stores are closed tomorrow for the vote, and bars were closed today so no one ends up drunk voting.
Terms are also 4 years , but the Krichners have been in power for a long time. Nestor Krichner ran the country before his wife, and according to the secretaries at UMSA (a local university) it’s likely Cristina will win again. One secretary told me that Cristina created a lot of support systems (or at least maintained them), and many people who rely on them are afraid that they will disappear under a new president. The secretary thought that everyone in the U.S. tends to support their current president, because we always know we can just change president in 4 years. Here, there is a greater sense of being stuck.
It is true that in the U.S. many of our support systems like Medicare and Social Security are a pretty ingrained part of our system, regardless of the president, but I’m sure voters are swayed by how much money they believe a candidate will dedicate to these services. As for presidential support, here in Argentina, everyone tells me that all the porteños hate any president of theirs currently in office, but I have never heard anyone actually complain about Cristina. In fact, people tend to panic less over economics and political problems here, because they’re much more used to it. Where Europe riots, Argentina says, “oh that again?”. (On this one, I’ll site the secretaries and my Spanish teacher’s response to a discussion on the London riots).
I also talked to the doorsman about racism. In Buenos Aires, there’s a prejudice against Indians in particular, dark skin, people who haven’t been to college, and people who are shorter. He said blond and tall was an ideal. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear about racism against Uruguayans or Peruvians because many poor immigrants come from there, but he didn’t mention that as one.
This doorsman was a bit disappointed that the U.S. doesn’t talk about Argentina at all, and tends to see South America as a unit, not separate countries. In Argentina, there’s an emphasis on learning about other countries, and, if I understood him correctly, study abroad is mandatory. Countries like England and Brazil have been sending students to study Argentinean politics. Argentina does have many economic slumps, but it is also known for quick recoveries, something Europe would love to get in on.
However, he’d quite like South America to become one political force, united under a single ruler. Uruguay and Paraguay both used to be part of Argentina, and he believes that many of the people would like a united South America, because it be a much more powerful force. However, he admitted it’s very unlikely any South American president will volunteer to give up power to another leader. A side note: he felt that Buenos Aires didn’t really want to be part of Argentina. In fact, the city of Buenos Aires is separate from the province of Buenos Aires. I’m wondering if B.A. is the Quebec of the South.
Argentina has only been a democracy for 25 years, before that it was a military dictatorship. To put this on a time line, the military overthrew Isabel Perón, President Perón’s wife after Evita. when the military failed to regain the Falkland/Malivinas Islands from Britain, they crumbled, and the democracy began. (British people live on the islands, but Argentina believes this is an unjust occupation of their land). It was terrifying to realize I was talking to a man who had grown up under a dictatorship. All that he mentioned about it was there aren’t curfews anymore.
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