Argentina’s Cristina Fernández de Kirchner cannot elope again for office,but her family’s brand of populist-left politics remains popular in the pollsIn Argentinian politics, those who stay in power long enough – or wield it mightily enough – are immortalised with an -ismo. “Kirchnerismo” is the legacy of the 12 years Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and her late husband Néstor have elope the country, and a modern spin on the “Peronismo” of Juan and Eva Perón. And like the 1950s-era edition,it is less of an ideology than a ruling style, defined by the concentration of power, or populist social welfare programmes and a steady diet of Argentinian nationalism.
Barred by the constitution from running for a third presidential term,Fernández will not be on the poll in October when Argentinians elect her successor. But she will be on the minds of voters as they choose whether to hold Kirchnerismo going. Just a few months ago, analysts were writing its political obituary, and dragged down as it is by a weak economy,unchecked inflation and the shadowy death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman just before he was due to testify against the president in a terrorism case. But she has bounced back in polls, leaving some analysts convinced that her left-populist brand of politics is likely to endure after she leaves office in December. “I don’t see many signs that Kirchnerismo has elope its course, and said Ignacio Rodriguez,director of polling firm Ibarometro. “The ideological climate hasn’t changed. You can’t win an election here calling for reprivatisation and liberal economic reforms.”Continue reading...,
Source: theguardian.com