Menem Makes Comeback as Argentina Goes to Runoff

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, April 28, 2003

Menem Makes Comeback as Argentina Goes to Runoff

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Flamboyant former President Carlos Menem finished first in Argentina's presidential election on Sunday but faces a runoff with his nearest rival and fellow Peronist Nestor Kirchner in the first national vote since economic collapse.

With 80 percent of the voting stations counted, free-marketeer Menem had 23.9 percent of the vote, while left-of-center Kirchner, the candidate of caretaker President Eduardo Duhalde, was winning 21.8 percent of the vote.

Menem, seeking his third term at 72, pulled in votes by promising to restore the economic bonanza of his 1989-99 administration that later unraveled into the worst crisis in Argentina's history.

"The second round will be just a formality," Menem told supporters. "We will triumph."

His pregnant wife, a 37-year-old ex-Miss Universe, Cecilia Bolocco, was by his side.

However, polls show that 60 percent of the electorate will never vote for Menem, who many blame for harboring corruption and cronyism and sowing the seeds of the crisis.

"Menem had the strongest support among Peronist candidates, but he has the biggest obstacles to win over non-Peronist votes in the run-off," said pollster Graciela Romer.

Argentina has been under Duhalde's care for 16 months after bloody rioting forced out President Fernando de la Rua in December 2001 and led to five presidents in two weeks.

For many, the worst of the crisis is over, as the economy shows the first signs of growth and much-hated banking curbs are lifted. But Argentines long for a leader who can deliver long-term stability after years of turmoil wiped out the middle class and its life savings.

Kirchner, a little known governor from the oil-rich, Patagonian province of Santa Cruz, cashed in on Duhalde's fledgling stability and social peace and promised to keep Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna on board.

"Argentina is faced with two clear models: the model of austerity, of exclusion, the model that indebted Argentina and gave rise to grave incidents of corruption, or the model of production and work, stability and inclusion," Kirchner told followers from his capital of Rio Gallegos.

Both candidates mobilize portions of the Peronist machine started by Juan and Eva Peron in the 1940s with a faithful following among the working class.

But Menem brings his experience to the table, as well as the international contacts he cultivated while in power.

"He's the only one who knows how to take us out of this mess," said Maria Cristina Fisch, a 70-year-old housewife celebrating outside Menem's campaign headquarters.

INDEPENDENT CANDIDATES FALL SHORT

While Menem and Kirchner shared the lead, two candidates from new parties fell short of drawing enough votes from the crushed middle class.

Ricardo Lopez Murphy, a tough-talking economist and investor favorite who surged in the polls with a clever campaign, was showing 16.9 percent of the vote.

"A big sector needs a channel to express themselves and we are going to be this channel," said Lopez Murphy, who enticed independent voters with his austere recipe for the crisis.

Elisa Carrio, an anti-graft lawmaker, had 14.4 percent of the vote after she struggled with a cash-strapped campaign.

The third Peronist candidate, populist Adolfo Rodriguez Saa, who was president during one tumultuous week in December 2001, was in fifth with 13.9 percent.

SMOOTH VOTING

Sunday's voting went off without a hitch from the icy tip of Tierra del Fuego to the tropical north. But there were scenes of rage against some candidates and an ex-president. De la Rua had to be escorted away by armed police after voting as protesters screamed "traitor" and other epithets.

In what was once the most socially balanced country in Latin America, six out of 10 Argentines now live in poverty and 10 million do not have enough to eat.

Argentina, a major exporter of wheat, soy and beef, was nicknamed the "world's breadbasket" and was one of the richest countries 70 years ago until decades of endemic corruption and economic mismanagement took hold.

The economy put in its worst performance in a century in 2002, contracting 11 percent as investors fled, but is seen growing four percent this year.

The next president faces the task of having to restructure $60 billion worth of defaulted debt held by furious creditors from Tokyo to Milan; he must also mend trampled fences with the International Monetary Fund.

"Whatever candidate comes out on top will face immense challenges in getting the economy back on track and will have very little policy flexibility while he's at it," said Carl Ross, who heads Latin American sovereign research at Bear Stearns & Co in New York.

Source: agencies

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