Yearbook 2017
Argentina. President Mauricio Macri won a major success
in the congressional elections on October 22 when his
center-right coalition Cambiemos ("Let's change") won in
five of the country's most popular electoral districts (the
city and province of Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Santa Fé and
Mendoza). In total, Cambiemos won in 13 of the country's 24
electoral districts, which no government has done since the
mid-1980s. Most important was the victory in the province of
Buenos Aires, where the coalition's candidate defeated
President Cristina Kirchner (2007–15). Her party The Justice
Party (Partido Justicialista, PJ) only managed to win in the
sparsely populated Fire Land, Chubut, Río Negro and San
Luis.
According to
Countryaah.com, Kirchner's defeat came as no surprise. Her popularity
figures have dropped dramatically as accusations against
several of her former ministers on corruption have increased
in scope. Among these were deputies Julio de Vido,
Kirchner's planning minister, who was deprived of his
immunity on October 17, accused of embezzling $ 15.2
million. Shortly after the election, Prosecutor Alejandra
Gils Carbó also announced his departure at the end of the
year. She was also accused of corruption and was closely
associated with Kirchner during her time as president. At
the same time as the government coalition's position in
Congress improved, it did not have a majority when the new
congress was convened on December 10 - for it took 22 seats
in the Chamber of Deputies and 12 in the Senate.
The election campaign was eclipsed by the disappearance
of political activist Santiago Maldonado in August. In the
middle of October, a body was found in a river in the
province of Chubut, which just two days before the election
turned out to be the missing one. Maldonado was involved in
the indigenous people's struggle for rights in the area and
disappeared in connection with violent clashes with police
near the site where the body was found.
Strikes and demonstrations also pushed the government
during the year, especially a major manifestation in Buenos
Aires in August, organized by the trade union organization
CGT, which is closely linked to the Peronist Party PJ,
against what the protesters called neoliberal labor market
policy.
In April, almost an area of 10 million hectares hit the
Paraná River in Argentina's economic heart, with a quarter
of the country's agriculture and livestock farming as the
river flooded over its banks due to intense rain. About
fifty people perished. The worst affected were the provinces
of La Pampa, Buenos Aires, Santa Fé and Córdoba.
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