POLITICS-ARGENTINA: Coalitions, a New Way of Doing Politics

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, May 10 2000 (IPS) - The traditional two-party system that has reigned in Argentina for over half a century – between numerous coups d’etat and military regimes – has steadily lost ground among voters in recent years, while a new form of doing politics has taken shape: coalition-building.

One of Argentina’s two traditional parties, the Radical Civic Union (UCR), forms part of the governing Alliance today. Its long- time rival, the Justice (Peronist) Party, meanwhile, is experiencing one of its worst crises ever, after taking a mere 1.6 percent of the vote in the Buenos Aires city elections on Sunday.

The influence of the UCR and the Justice Party has been waning as they gradually lose the constituencies that had been faithful to them from the start.

One of the explanations that some Peronist leaders have given for their devastating defeat on Sunday was that the losing candidate – backed by former Justice Party president Carlos Menem (1989-99) – failed to strike alliances with other parties, which would have been more in line with the new style of doing politics and could be the key to the party’s future recovery.

Argentina’s traditional political leaders, whose prestige has been sagging in recent years, are now seeking to stage a return through new partnerships.

The new coalitions, born of necessity, are developing their own political culture, in which strong leadership in the style of “caudillos” or political bosses is losing ground to the need to strike agreements between honest, talented and experienced leaders from different parties.

The result, as in “gestalt” structures, appears to be greater than the sum of its parts – or in this case, of its voters.

The enormous gap separating political leaders from voters in the past has shrunk in the new style of politics, which is closer to ordinary citizens and more in tune with their immediate, practical – and to a lesser extent ideological – needs.

Political deals today have become more transparent negotiations, and are no longer tied to specific circumstances, but are made to last in order to build support and gain credibility among voters.

In these new alliances, those holding the posts of vice- president or deputy governor are no longer merely decorative figures or replacements in case of disaster, but act as partners who bring their own capital – their image and grassroots support – and who matter when it comes to making decisions.

The first big experiment was the centre-left Alliance that carried President Fernando de la Rúa to victory in the national elections in October. The coalition, set up two years earlier, had chalked up its first triumph in legislative elections the year of its creation.

The biggest member of the Alliance is the UCR, a party created in 1914 based on a middle-class constituency. In the 1940s, its chief rival, the Justice Party, was founded by Juan Perón, giving political representation to the lowest-income sectors.

But after the government of Raúl Alfonsín (1983-89), the UCR began to lose voters, and party leaders started to discuss the need for a coalition – a proposal that found an echo in a political grouping seeking the same thing, Frepaso (Frente País Solidario).

At that time, Frepaso was a new association of centre-left parties and disenchanted Peronists who had left the Justice Party. Frepaso’s leaders were calling for a change to a more modern style of politics that would leave behind “caudillismo”, clientelism and widespread corruption.

As he had pledged, Vice-President Carlos Alvarez, a Frepaso leader, has played a stronger role than was traditional for vice- presidents, without entering into contradictions or competition with President De la Rúa, of the UCR.

On Sunday, another leader of the Alliance, Aníbal Ibarra, won a smashing victory in his bid for the post of Buenos Aires mayor. Ibarra belongs to Frepaso, but has insistently reiterated that his triumph did not strengthen his party, but the Alliance as a whole.

His running-mate, Cecilia Felgueras of the UCR, will not play “second fiddle” to Ibarra, but will be a partner with whom he will divvy up the work and responsibilities, according to the new mayor-elect.

Observing the success of the Alliance, centre-right parties began to form their own coalitions, and set up the ‘Encuentro por la Ciudad’, which fielded former economy minister Domingo Cavallo in Sunday’s city elections. Cavallo came in second with 33 percent of the votes, against Ibarra’s 49 percent.

A few months ago, Cavallo and another of Menem’s former government ministers, Gustavo Béliz, decided not to compete for the same voters, and joined together in the ‘Encuentro por la Ciudad’, which has become the second strongest force in the city of Buenos Aires.

On Sunday, Cavallo revived memories of the old-style politics by insulting the winning candidate, refusing to accept his defeat, and demanding that he had a right to compete in a run-off, because Ibarra fell just short of winning 50 percent plus one vote.

But the new style of doing politics won out thanks to the influence of his political ally. Béliz convinced Cavallo to apologise to the winners, publicly admit his defeat and commit himself to working for the future based on the ground won by the new centre-right coalition.

Béliz, Ibarra and his running-mate Felgueras, all of them between 35 and 42 years of age, are the first political representatives of a generation that was in its teens during the last dictatorship (1976-83).

Thus, their political careers have differed markedly from those of traditional leaders who had to coexist with de facto regimes.

Cavallo and Béliz, meanwhile, were ministers under Menem, who belonged to the Justice Party, which made its worst showing in history in Sunday’s elections.

The Justice Party’s debacle did not indicate that the party – which came in second in the national elections in October and still governs half of Argentina’s 28 provinces – is disappearing. But it did signal the need for renovation and change.

The electorate of the city of Buenos Aires is not known for voting strictly along party lines. The 2.5 million voters – of a greater Buenos Aires population of 12.6 million – are more flexible and willing to accept change than any others in the nation, according to influential pollster Graciela Romer.

But in that sense, the city could be a laboratory for what the traditional parties could experience in the next few years if they fail to understand the need for renovation, say analysts, who warn that it is not only a question of striking short-term alliances under specific circumstances, such as past agreements formed by the Justice Party with the sole aim of winning elections.

The phenomenon looks more complex and more permanent than that, and would require willingness to subordinate traditional party identities and leadership to the broader interests and needs of society, analysts stress.