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Weekly Report - 20 August 2015 (WR-15-33)

ARGENTINA: Floods prompt accusations of dirty tricks

In the province of Buenos Aires, thousands have been forced to flee their homes due to floods. With around one third of the Argentine electorate based in the province, and just two months to go until the general elections, the natural disaster has unsurprisingly become an issue in the presidential race. Daniel Scioli, the frontrunner and candidate for the ruling Frente para la Victoria (FPV) faction of the Partido Justicialista (PJ, Peronists), is also the governor of the province. On 12 August, pressure from the opposition candidates forced him to cut short a trip abroad to attend to the situation.

Just two days earlier, Scioli had set off for Italy, not for a holiday, he claimed, but for work on his prosthetic arm (the former motorboat racer lost his arm in an accident.) Mauricio Macri, the presidential candidate of the centre-right opposition Propuesta Republicana (PRO) and the mayor of the city of Buenos Aires, noted that his administration was coordinating much of the emergency relief work and that provincial leaders were complaining of “a certain absence”. Sergio Massa, the third-placed candidate from the dissident Peronist Frente Renovador (FR), described Scioli’s trip as “inopportune”. Even some in Scioli’s own party were surprised by the timing. Aníbal Fernández, the cabinet chief, said that he had no idea the governor was planning a trip abroad. “It’s not my job to make a value judgment about this,” he said, pointedly.

Macri also sought to exploit questions over the province’s contingency planning raised by the flooding. “The only solution is infrastructure works; it’s not magic,” he said. “If the Buenos Aires provincial government had delivered on its promised water works, things would have been better.” While Macri enjoys robust support in the city of Buenos Aires, he desperately needs to expand his appeal in the province, traditionally a Peronist stronghold, to defeat Scioli in the elections.

On returning to Argentina, Scioli immediately declared a state of emergency, freeing up federal funds for assistance. He claimed that throughout his trip abroad he had been in constant contact with the emergency authorities. He also accused his rivals of politicising the issue. “The adversary is climate change,” he said. “I don’t look at this in political terms and I’m sorry about those who want to look at it in this way.

Dirty tricks

Over the weekend, Scioli’s mood soured. Periodismo Para Todos, an investigative television programme that has frequently targeted the administration of President Cristina Fernández, broadcast on Sunday night an image that had gone viral on social media. It purported to show Scioli relaxing and enjoying a cigar at a luxury European hotel, while floodwaters rose back in Buenos Aires. The Scioli campaign not only denounced the photo as being four years out of date but also stated its intention to seek legal redress for a dirty tricks campaign being carried out on social media, orchestrated by Macri.

Alberto de Fazio, an FPV senator, said the government would file charges against the opposition Cambiemos coalition. He added that around 35% of Macri’s followers on social media were fake accounts broadcasting false information. “It is not about censorship,” he said. “It is about accounts which are not real. This is a dirty campaign, not valid criticism.” In a radio interview on 17 August, Scioli said that the social media campaign was symptomatic of their weakness and his strength. “They feel helpless when they realise people backed us with 40% of the vote, with a difference of 15 percentage points, or more than 3m votes,” he said, exaggerating the numbers slightly.

  • Unity ticket

Daniel Scioli has lambasted rumours in the local media that Mauricio Macri and Sergio Massa are planning on uniting to defeat him. Combining the results of the two opposition candidates from the primaries would see them beat Scioli – just. But the electoral authorities have made it clear that a joint ticket would not now be permissible. “The law is clear. Candidates running in the general election should be from the same party lists that ran in the primaries,” Alejandro Tullio, the national electoral director, said.

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