PanAm Podcast with Marcelo Duclos: Mauricio Macri Scores Huge Political Victory in Argentina

Tonight Argentines went to the polls in midterm Congressional elections pitting center-right president Mauricio Macri and his Cambiemos Party against leftist Cristina Kirchner, Argentina's dominant political force for a decade. Kirchner won a Senate seat in Buenos Aires province, but had a disappointing performance natiowide, winning just 20% of the vote against Macri's 42%. Her decision to ababndon the Justicialista Party and form her own movement has divided the opposition, and now leaves Macri with a strong position to pursue his economic agenda and position himself for reelection in 2019. Ultimately, Duclos suggests that Kirchner and Macri may form some kind of implicit alliance: Macri still needs room to maneuver in Congress and could reach out to Kirchnerm and Kirchner can now use her Congressional privilege to thwart a series of legal investigations that has been swirling around her and her administration. Macri may, thus, be better off with Kirchner as the "leader" of the opposition.