ELECTIONS-ARGENTINA: Twenty Years On, Enthusiasm Dampened

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Apr 18 2003 (IPS) - The burst of civic fervour awakened by the 1983 elections in Argentina after a seven-year dictatorship gradually petered out due to the failure of the country’s leaders to come up with effective solutions to pressing problems. Twenty years later, apathy and scepticism are the predominant traits of the Apr. 27 elections.

”Under democracy you live, you eat, and you receive education and health care” was the favourite campaign slogan of the candidate who won those elections, former president Raúl Alfonsín (1983-1989). But reality wasted no time in turning his bold promises into empty rhetoric.

”People don’t feel the excitement they experienced in 1983,” Magdalena Bosch, in charge of civic information at the non- governmental Asociación Conciencia, told IPS. ”Now they call us to ask who they should vote for, not because they are undecided, but because at bottom what they feel is: Who am I going to vote for, if nothing is going to change anyway?”

The Asociación Conciencia, which provides information on elections and candidates, was created in 1982, months before the return to democracy. Since then, it has dedicated itself to promoting the values of democracy and citizen participation.

Bosch said that never before had she seen such scepticism among voters.

In 1983, Argentina’s two traditional political parties, the Justicialista (Peronist) Party and Radical Civic Union (UCR), drew around 1.5 million supporters each to their campaign closing rallies, held near the Obelisk in the centre of Buenos Aires.

After two decades in which presidents of both parties have governed this Southern Cone country of 37 million without providing the solutions demanded by voters, this year’s rallies marking the end of the campaign are being held in more reduced spaces, stadiums and theatres, and many of those who attend admit that they have received incentives to do so, in the form of food or cash.

In 1983, Argentines voted for their parties rather than specific candidates, and became familiar with how they proposed to govern by reading their campaign platforms, said Bosch.

But ”Now the parties seem to have been watered-down and weakened, people are voting for specific candidates, and the platform proposals are weak, light, and far removed from voters’ demands,” she said.

”Democracy is fully alive, but it is not awakening enthusiasm,” she added.

There are many symptoms of that phenomenon. In 1983, it was a source of pride to be called on to man a voting station. But today, the government of caretaker President Eduardo Duhalde is offering 100 pesos (around 32 dollars) to those who will live up to that civic duty.

After the dictatorship, which ”disappeared” between 10,000 and 30,000 people and left the country steeped in a profound economic crisis, the UCR’s Alfonsín was elected. But he was forced to step down six months before the end of his term as runaway inflation hit four-digit figures.

His successor was the Justicialista Party’s Carlos Menem, who was elected to two consecutive terms (1989-1999) but left office with his reputation gravely damaged by serious allegations of corruption, amidst a fast deteriorating economic and social situation.

In 1999, a little-known UCR politician with a clean image, Fernando de la Rúa, was elected at the head of an alliance with FREPASO, a centre-left party, promising to pull Argentina out of its deep recession by governing with honesty and transparency.

His administration ended up a fiasco, and in late 2001 he was forced to resign by a wave of looting, riots and protests, in which around 30 people were killed.

The current election campaign provides no strong new alternatives.

Contrary to tradition, the Justicialista Party has fielded three candidates, Menem, Néstor Kirchner and Adolfo Rodríguez Saá – who briefly succeeded de la Rúa in late 2001 but was himself toppled after just one week. The three are fighting fiercely among themselves, and none has opinion poll ratings of more than 20 percent.

The UCR candidate Leopoldo Moreau has less than 1.5 percent opinion poll support.

Two other prominent candidates are former members of the UCR: Ricardo López Murphy, who left the party and took a turn to the right, and Elisa Carrió, who moved towards the centre-left after abandoning the party.

Pollsters agree that the only sure thing about the elections is that there will be a second round on May 18 in which the two most- voted candidates will face off.

In order to be elected in the first round, a candidate needs to win at least 45 percent of the vote, or 40 percent, with a 10- point lead on the next candidate – conditions that no one expects any candidate to achieve in the current elections.

”I am not planning on voting for any of those six candidates, because I don’t want to cast my vote for any of the known candidates,” an unemployed woman, Susana Corzo, told IPS, adding that she was not worried about giving her support to ”a candidate who is not going to win, because whoever I vote for, I’m sure nothing will change.”

Corzo had a small business that provided job placement assistance and advice on labour issues. But she and her partner were forced to close down by the ongoing economic crisis – one of the worst in Argentine history – and the increasing scarcity of jobs.

Unemployment currently stands at 17.8 percent, and over 54 percent of the population of 37 million has fallen below the poverty line, according to official figures.

After failed attempts at getting her business going again, Corzo decided to apply for unemployment benefits, which provide her with 113 dollars a month for six months. ”I’ll see what I do after that,” she said.

The only thing Corzo is clear on is that she will ”never again vote for the Justicialista Party or the UCR.”

”People have little hope that this election will bring about change in the country, or in their personal situations,” and the polls show that few voters fall into the category of ”undecided,” despite the lack of attractive candidates, said pollster Graciela Romer, a sociologist.

Many already know who they will vote for, but they will do so without enthusiasm, and without expecting much in return, she explained.

In a survey carried out by Romer’s polling company, nearly half of the respondents said that ”little to nothing is going to change” as a result of the elections.

In another poll, by the Zuleta Puceiro polling firm, 70 percent of those interviewed said the candidates did not reflect the quality of Argentine society.

The TV programmes where the candidates appear have low ratings. The candidates have opted for making few public appearances and avoiding debate, and have preferred to visit programmes that provide comic relief, rather than political talk shows.

Their publicity spots reflect how little they promise. One ad underlines that Kirchner ”does not dye his hair,” as evidence of his solid principles.