As Uruguay moves rightwards, crisis-ravaged Argentina heads back to the left. Macri is out - despite, quite remarkably, having more than halved his deficit in support over the last two and a half months. And Cristina, albeit not quite in the conventional sense, is back.
She'll be Vice President, supporting someone who practically screams 'puppet' in everything he says. Alberto Fernandez (no relation to Cristina) is essentially President by accident. Few saw this coming a few months ago.
Will it work? Stupid question: nothing ever works in Argentinian politics. That's the great tragedy here. But the situation is so awful there that something had to give; the last 4 years have been such a disaster that it's remarkable Macri still got more than 40% of the vote.
If anything, he isn't even THAT unpopular. Or at least, his de facto right hand woman, Maria Eugenia Vidal, Governor of Buenos Aires, has been a lot more unpopular. Loathed by many for Thatcherite policies, she's been trounced by one Axel Kiciloff.
Kiciloff is the man to watch for the future. He's long been considered an economic whizzkid, even genius. A cross between Keynes and Marx, he fulminated with righteous fury in his victory speech tonight, laying the blame well and truly where it belongs: with neoliberalism.
He must be a very likely future President as things stand. He's the youngest looking 48-year-old man in human history; he's full of ideas and is a genuine rebel. My followers should check him out. I think @AaronBastani, @graceblakeley and @OwenJones84 would all really like him.
@AaronBastani @graceblakeley @OwenJones84 Politics is supposed to be showbiz for ugly people. Kiciloff and Vidal would beg to differ.
And here's his speech. In which he has the crowd eating out the palm of his hand in a manner I've rarely seen.
And here's his speech. In which he has the crowd eating out the palm of his hand in a manner I've rarely seen.
