CAMPAIGN COMMENTS Independence for whom? 12-07-2025 06:13 The Independence Day alliance on the right leaves the Peronists playing catch up after their stab at unification at the Partido Justicialista Congress. by Michael Soltys
Campaign comments The autumn of the patriarch 05-07-2025 07:19 Gildo Insfrán’s power stems from the provincial government being by far Formosa’s biggest employer with less than six percent of the workforce having formal jobs in the private sector, boosted by shameless patronage. by Michael Soltys
Campaign comments Midterms in midyear 28-06-2025 07:24 Given the total inability of the protagonists in Buenos Aires Province to get their act together, the midterms still four months away are looking more like candidates for “It’s the economy, stupid” than ever. by Michael Soltys
Campaign comments Begin the begin 21-06-2025 06:28 Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is paradoxically sidelined and occupying centre stage at the same time. With her exclusion from any electoral candidacy, the campaign effectively starts again. by Michael Soltys
CAMPAIGN COMMENTS The lady vanishes 14-06-2025 06:37 The most immediate question here is who replaces Cristina Fernández de Kirchner at the helm. Problems of Peronist succession have always been so daunting historically that most of the movement would rather not face them. by Michael Soltys
Campaign comments On a mission in omission 07-06-2025 06:34 Voting for provincial deputies in Misiones is more likely to be a landslide for the local ruling party than any electoral earthquake. by Michael Soltys
Politics – Analysis From ‘Caputito’ to ‘Fat Dan’ – weird scenes of digital disinformation 31-05-2025 06:39 Milei and his digital pit-bulls appeal to freedom of expression while relying on manipulative and even false information to get their message across, while fostering censorship and hate of the traditional media. Freedom of speech for those who express the same kind of things as me, censorship for the rest. by Agustino Fontevecchia
CAMPAIGN COMMENTS Where angels fear to tread 31-05-2025 06:33 The demolition job suffered by PRO in the City has most provinces now thinking twice about advancing their elections and exposing local hegemonies to the forces of heaven. by Michael Soltys
CAMPAIGN COMMENTS They also serve who only stand and wait 17-05-2025 06:31 Electoral tides notoriously shift in the final week and even the last minute. by Michael Soltys
ELECTIONS 2025 Paid militants, tensions, anger at Macri – inside Adorni’s campaign finale 15-05-2025 13:12 Manuel Adorni, heading La Libertad Avanza’s list for the City Legislature elections, accompanied by Javier and Karina Milei, Cabinet ministers and others at his closing campaign rally in Recoleta – but tensions are brewing behind the scenes. by Giselle Leclercq
CAMPAIGN COMMENTS Four-by-four voting 10-05-2025 07:20 Next weekend’s City race hogs the electoral limelight but there is voting even closer in time – like tomorrow when four provinces will be advancing their midterms. by Michael Soltys
CAMPAIGN COMMENTS The great debate 01-05-2025 09:39 The absurd multiplicity of 17 list-heading candidates for 30 City Legislature seats can be boiled down into a triangle of the PRO, libertarian and Peronist blocs, although this does not necessarily translate into only three candidates since others stand to make inroads. by Michael Soltys
Campaign comments First day of the rest of the year 19-04-2025 06:00 Economists have hailed the exit from the cepo as a milestone but this columnist hesitates to consider it an electoral game-changer – there is both too much and too little time for that. by Michael Soltys
Campaign comments And so it begins 12-04-2025 05:22 This year’s midterm voting begins tomorrow in the major province of Santa Fe with the constituent assembly elections. by Michael Soltys
POPULARITY PLUMMET Why Brazil's Lula is bleeding support 18-02-2025 12:00 Brazil's leftist president embarks on a national tour of interviews and public appearances as supporters lose faith in his economic policies and the far-right emboldens worldwide.
POLITICAL UPHEAVAL Colombia in crisis after president calls for cabinet resignation 10-02-2025 13:13 Environment Minister Susana Muhamad is one of several Colombian officials to resign following an unusual and scandalous meeting between President Gustavo Petro and his cabinet.
UNITED STATES ELECTION 2024 Harris and Trump last campaign push as polls deadlocked 04-11-2024 15:36 US presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are in a tight race, with both making a final push to rally supporters and gain an advantage.
UNITED STATES ELECTION 2024 Rumours, lies and disinformation: ‘A lot of crazy’ in US election 03-11-2024 09:09 Elon Musk, Donald Trump helping amplify falsehoods about integrity of US election; Foreign actors also blamed by officials in Washington for sowing chaos.
CORRUPTION & THE COURTS ‘Cuadernos’ case: Court rules black money was campaign contributions 22-06-2024 16:22 Controversial court ruling benefitting Mauricio Macri’s cousin, Ángelo Calcaterra, could lead to cases being tried in electoral courts.
US POLITICS Trump hails Super Tuesday wins, Nikki Haley to drop out of race 06-03-2024 10:15 Donald Trump marches towards a White House rematch with US President Joe Biden; Nikki Haley reportedly set to drop out Wednesday after a heavy defeat in 'Super Tuesday' primaries.
Politics Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Torres: the governor who lit the provincial fuse 01-03-2024 06:28 From the PRO leader’s political beginnings in Trelew, his links to Patricia Bullrich and Horacio Rodríguez Larreta and his history with Mario Das Neves. How he constructed his candidacy and the special advisor with whom he worked but now at odds. A profile of the youngest provincial governor in office today. by Ezequiel Spillman
Milei at the Vatican Bad omens as Javier Milei prepares to meet Pope Francis 08-02-2024 14:43 The President will meet the Pope at the Vatican but the build-up to the meeting promises tension. by Juan Luis González
DOLLARISATION ON THE CARDS? Milei says dollarisation isn’t a ‘short-term’ goal 06-02-2024 14:17 After making it the centrepiece of his presidential campaign, the now President Javier Milei began pushing dollarisation down his list of priorities.
POPE & PRESIDENT Pope Francis confirms that he will receive President Milei at the Vatican 29-01-2024 16:32 Pope Francis says he is “ready to start a dialogue” with President Javier Milei, reveals his organisation of his visit to Argentina is not yet underway.
CAMPAIGN COMMENTS Going to the dogs? 16-12-2023 07:20 This final election 2023 column concludes a series running the length of the campaign – now it’s time to detail the resulting political architecture in the present tense. by Michael Soltys
CAMPAIGN COMMENTS They also serve… 02-12-2023 10:23 That stateside visit threw something of a spanner into what is anyway very much a stop-go process of transition and Cabinet-building – Milei would seem anxious to remind people of the first half of his self-definition as an anarcho-capitalist. by Michael Soltys
CAMPAIGN COMMENTS Method in his madness? 25-11-2023 14:16 Javier Milei’s solitary rise to the top from almost nowhere in a couple of years is more apparent than real. The key to this success is more like the solution to Agatha Christie’s 'Murder on the Orient Express' – they all did it. by Michael Soltys
IN FOCUS: 'EL JEFE' KARINA MILEI Karina: How most important member of next government thinks 22-11-2023 11:56 The youngest member of Milei family has the last word within La Libertad Avanza. The issues she monopolises and how she handles them, her role in the face of her brother’s solitude and her importance to Argentina’s president-elect. by Juan Luis González
CAMPAIGN COMMENTS Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow 18-11-2023 06:42 Democratic voting in Argentina ran on the basis of simple majorities until 1972 when that system was a non-starter for a military régime since it would guarantee victory for a Juan Domingo Perón. In order to give themselves the faint chance of the anti-Peronist chunk of society outnumbering the Peronist masses if obliged to vote en bloc, they introduced a system whereby nothing short of an absolute majority would permit victory in the first round. by Michael Soltys
Campaign comments Run-up to run-off II 11-11-2023 05:40 If everybody assumed Milei to be the next president after his PASO primary upset with Massa massively favoured following last month’s turnaround, the wheel could be turning full circle again. by Michael Soltys
CAMPAIGN COMMENTS Run-up to run-off 04-11-2023 05:37 If we have had two straight surprises in the voting so far this year, why not three? by Michael Soltys
ELECTION 2023 Who spent what? Expenses and campaign contributions of candidates 01-11-2023 17:08 Milei’s campaign was almost entirely funded by the State, but it was also the most austere. Bullrich spent twice as much, and Massa used the most public funds.
CAMPAIGN COMMENTS Crouching tiger, hidden lion 28-10-2023 04:18 Fear of the unknown is such a conservative emotion that instead people ended up clinging to the status quo, inflation and scandals included. by Michael Soltys
Campaign comments Expecting every voter to do their duty 21-10-2023 05:51 While tomorrow’s election is widely seen as a three-cornered affair (like the hats in the times of Trafalgar), all three of its fleets tend to believe that there are only two sides. Could tomorrow’s election echo the battle by ultimately leading to a breakdown of existing alliances with a new Argentina eventually resulting? by Michael Soltys
Campaign comments The pit and the pendulum II 14-10-2023 05:22 The pit and the pendulum feed each other with “the worse, the better” logic, appealing to most candidates with Milei’s advice against renewing fixed-term peso deposits the outstanding example. by Michael Soltys
Election 2023 Airing the dirty laundry of Argentina’s political caste 13-10-2023 11:27 As we get closer to the general election there could be a few more surprises of the smear campaign machine, so hold onto your hats. by Agustino Fontevecchia
ELECTION 2023: ANALYSIS Insaurralde, Milei, Melconian and the dirty campaign 12-10-2023 14:46 We’re into the tortuous last stretch of the campaign and political operations are underway. by Javier Calvo
CAMPAIGN COMMENTS The pit and the pendulum 07-10-2023 06:22 Neither last Sunday’s debate nor the passage of eight weeks have produced any paradigmatic shift from the three-way tie of the PASO primary. by Michael Soltys
CAMPAIGN COMMENTS Hat-trick or the third wheel? 30-09-2023 05:07 Any win helps and far more so when the margin of Alfredo Cornejo’s victory in Mendoza surpassed all expectations. But does this injection of enthusiasm reviving optimism reach the dimensions of a game-changer for Patricia Bullrich? by Michael Soltys
CAMPAIGN COMMENTS Will Mendoza be the bulldozer? 23-09-2023 05:03 Whichever way Mendoza goes, it will be the last throw of the dice before general election day on October 22. by Michael Soltys
CAMPAIGN COMMENTS It’s the election, stupid! 16-09-2023 05:37 By all but abolishing income tax, Massa has also abolished the contradiction between his simultaneous economic stewardship and presidential candidacy by chucking away his ministerial hat in favour of his electioneering cap. by Michael Soltys
ELECTIONS 2023 What everyone is thinking and no-one is saying (about Javier Milei) 16-09-2023 05:14 What the members of the ‘círculo rojo’ are all thinking, but are not willing to say publicly, is that they believe a Milei administration would be marked by a level of institutional instability so great that it would quickly lead to a situation of social unrest. by Agustino Fontevecchia
MINISTER ON CAMPAIGN Massa aims portfolio power at pockets with income tax bill 14-09-2023 13:55 Economy Minister Sergio Massa raises income tax minimum threshold and programme to return IVA value-added tax, just one month before elections; Move means just 80,000 tax-payers will be paying 'ganancias' from October onwards.
CAMPAIGN COMMENTS Do you know the way to Santa Fe? 09-09-2023 05:32 The three-way split with half the electorate potentially up for grabs opens up infinite mathematical possibilities. by Michael Soltys
ELECTION 2023 Operation Beat Milei – Massa’s emergency election campaign 05-09-2023 14:35 Sergio Massa unveils package of measures to be competitive; With Lula's request and a gubernatorial rebuff ringing in his ears, Sergio Massa is fighting for Javier Milei's votes. by Juan Luis González
CAMPAIGN COMMENTS Neither ready nor steady but still go 02-09-2023 06:24 Is there any structure beneath the protest vote foam – is there any iceberg below the tip? by Michael Soltys
ELECTION 2023 Bullrich appeals to the epic, vowing to end Kirchnerismo 28-08-2023 15:14 Patricia Bullrich believes she has unified the opposition coalition behind her and is convinced of the message she needs to express: only Juntos por el Cambio can end Kirchnerism once and for all. by Ezequiel Spillman
ELECTION 2023 Sergio Massa embarks on post-PASO search for votes 28-08-2023 14:48 As the ruling coalition presidential candidate travels to Brazil with an economic agenda, Massa’s campaign plans for the general election are ramping up. by Rosario Ayerdi
CAMPAIGN COMMENTS Milei – melee or millennial? 26-08-2023 06:00 The Milei vote can be seen as a backlash against impoverishment, laid at the door of a regime belittling self-made wealth, meritocracy and savings. by Michael Soltys
CAMPAIGN COMMENTS Two’s grieta, three’s a crowd 19-08-2023 06:01 While we are constantly told that Greater Buenos Aires is the “mother of all battles” deciding every election, Javier Milei’s win was hinterland payback, winning 16 of the 23 provinces, all inland – the mirror image of his 2021 midterm electoral advent by Michael Soltys