Argentina’s Narrow Path to Common Ground
Its new president has a chance to fix deep-seated economic problems — if he acts quickly.
Taming inflation is harder than being a gaucho.
Photographer: Norberto Duarte/AFP via Getty Images
Sunday’s victory in Argentina’s presidential elections was both impressive and underwhelming. True, Peronist challenger Alberto Fernandez soundly beat President Mauricio Macri. But not only did Fernandez fail to match his running mate Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner´s record 54% of the vote when she won the presidency in 2011; Macri also bounced back from his disastrous August primary performance, his party scored wins in important cities and provinces and he retained his mantle as leader of the opposition.
On the positive side, fears of hegemonic rule by Fernandez are less warranted: 40% support for an active opposition is a message that a sensible politician cannot ignore. But he is also in a weaker position relative to his vice president, whose polarizing politics will be harder to restrain after a big win by her allies in the province of Buenos Aires.