Post by cenydd on Aug 12, 2013 9:26:59 GMT
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez faced a tough mid-term primary election test on Sunday, with early results showing headwinds to any effort by her allies to pass a constitutional amendment allowing her to run for a third term in 2015.
Candidates for October legislative elections are being chosen. With no competition among candidates on the lists offered by most parties, and with voters allowed to split the ticket among their choices for the Chamber of Deputies and Senate, Sunday's vote serves as a mega-opinion poll on Fernandez's heavy-handed trade and economic policies.
An over-valued currency, protectionist trade policies, ever-tightening foreign exchange controls and Fernandez's decision to nationalise Argentina's private pension system and top oil company YPF have upset investors and trade partners.
Argentina's bond investors and those interested in its vast farm and shale oil resources watched the primary for signs that voters may be tiring of Fernandez's approach and are ready for a market-friendly leader in 2015.
The first indication, based on official data with six percent of the vote counted, showed opposition leader Sergio Massa ahead in the must-win province of Buenos Aires, which is home to 40 percent of Argentina's electorate.
Candidates for October legislative elections are being chosen. With no competition among candidates on the lists offered by most parties, and with voters allowed to split the ticket among their choices for the Chamber of Deputies and Senate, Sunday's vote serves as a mega-opinion poll on Fernandez's heavy-handed trade and economic policies.
An over-valued currency, protectionist trade policies, ever-tightening foreign exchange controls and Fernandez's decision to nationalise Argentina's private pension system and top oil company YPF have upset investors and trade partners.
Argentina's bond investors and those interested in its vast farm and shale oil resources watched the primary for signs that voters may be tiring of Fernandez's approach and are ready for a market-friendly leader in 2015.
The first indication, based on official data with six percent of the vote counted, showed opposition leader Sergio Massa ahead in the must-win province of Buenos Aires, which is home to 40 percent of Argentina's electorate.
www.iol.co.za/news/world/fernandez-s-popularity-tested-at-the-polls-1.1560618#.UgipR22OxPY
All sounds like a bit of a mess, with an opposition sounding as if it is basically in disarray, and with her trying to change the law to allow another term of office. That kind of thing is always a worry, and especially when the person concerned has been following protectionist policies, and sabre-rattling heavily over a certain group of disputed islands.