One month on from La Libertad Avanza’s victory in the midterm legislative elections, it can be said that the political and economic system has readjusted itself in response to the support obtained by President Javier Milei at the ballot box.
The main beneficiary of this realignment was, logically enough, the government – the big winner of the electoral contest.
This honeymoon period stands in stark contrast to the turbulent times the ruling party endured in recent months, during the campaign and after that resounding defeat for Milei in the Buenos Aires Province election back in September.
Thus, October's national results cooled down the overheated social climate, frantic media coverage and fears in political circles. At least in terms of the perceived temperature, because the underlying problems did not disappear. The magic of the ballot box.
The government did its part, of course. Not only did it reap the rewards of voter support, but it also proceeded with its own internal restructuring, which is still ongoing.
In the President’s case, it is striking that he continues to maintain the measured tone he adopted in the final weeks of the campaign. He has had opportunities yet he still avoids the aggressive catchphrases of his past criticism. “Mandriles” (“Mandrils”), “ensobrados” (“on the take”) and the other classics of Milei’s vocabulary have yet to reappear. (For now. One never knows.)
And in case anyone still has doubts, Presidential Chief-of-Staff Karina Milei’s power has once again been confirmed. The President’s all-powerful sister swiftly began to collect the dividends of the electoral win – the political ones, that is: she pushed for Diego Santilli to replace Guillermo Francos as Cabinet chief, approved the Security Ministry succession plan arranged with Patricia Bullrich, installed the chief of the Army at the helm of Defence Ministry and deepened her intervention in the intelligence services, among other displays of authority. There will be more to come.
Karina also took advantage of her strengthened position to renew the protective shield around all her executors, from the Menem cousins to Sebastián Pareja.
How distant now seem the rumours – spread from the office of the still-presidential adviser Santiago Caputo (another who has fallen from grace under the reign of Karina) – suggesting that Cristian Ritondo might replace Martín Menem as Lower House speaker in December.
Even more striking is that in the recent revelations about the bribery scandal at the ANDIS national disability agency, the spotlight shifted from Karina and the Menems to Caputo, owing to his ties with lobbyist Miguel Calvete and family – some of whose members entered the Milei government and have now had to be dismissed.
Nor do the developments in the ‘$LIBRA’ fraud case – with multimillion-peso withdrawals from suspicious accounts – seem to affect the presidential sister any more. The slowing of that legal case surely contributes to Karina’s peace of mind.
The Peronist opposition is making its own contribution to this little summer spell. Amid internal feuds, score-settling, realignments, Balkanisation and survival strategies, the main opposition force lays bare its limitations in continuing to confront the Government – especially after a morale-denting defeat.
To make matters worse, the start of the oral trial over the ‘Cuadernos’ corruption notebooks probing graft in the awarding of public works project once again brazenly exposes the illegal fundraising machinery of Kirchnerism.
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who speaks from her house arrest and is trying to remain hidden during the remote broadcasts of the trial’s hearings, attempts to lay down the line that a new era is beginning for Peronism.
They must change. But that is another story.
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