Argentina has the following political parties;
The Conservative Party is led by Jose Marcos de Ballista a former lawyer, was the main opposition party for 20 years but closely linked with the war because of its links with the war and corruption before the war but it is the main middle class party. It won 34% of the vote in the last election but was denied power when the National Democratic Party refused to work with it and they could not hold off the larger National Democratic Party /United Workers Party coalition. This has alienated the middle classes who feel cheated and feel that business interests will not be looked after. The Conservative Party is built around the capitalist system, it believes in the free market and limited government intervention and is a reactionary party and very close to the Catholic Church (a powerful lobby force within the party) and believes in a minimal government controlling what is essential. It feels people’s politics is their choice and has an arrogant view that the Conservatives simply offer a better option than any left-wing party. Landowners too have flocked from the Democratic Union and make up the bulk of the reactionary element.
The United Workers Party is led Eduardo Garcia, a former steel worker from Cordoba and a high-ranking trade union leader. It is a classic social democrat party formed around the ideals of the European social democrat parties of the early 20th century. It was formed out of the original two left-wing workers parties. It main support lies within the expanding working class and servicemen during the war also voted in large numbers for it. In the last elections it polled 32% of the vote and is in power in coalition with the National Democratic Party. It wants to end restrictions on trade unions, increase pensions, improved public health care, a limited nationalisation scheme of big industries like oil and steel and improved housing. Its aims are purely centred around the working classes but these pledges have gained large scale electoral support as a backlash from the long reign of the Democratic Union. It is anti-Marxist and tries to move itself away from any far left influence with mixed results.
The National Democratic Party is led by retired naval officer Almirante Peron and was only formed in late 1935. The D’Silva scandal and the backlash of the war meant a large chuck of Democratic Union supporters turned away from their party from disillusionment and instead switched to a new party. Almirante Peron is not an astute politician and could be regarded as a stuffy religious conservative with much more in common with the Conservative Party (indeed he was a member of that party in his youth). He could claim a change from the scandal-burdened years of Democratic Union rule (although he actively took part in wartime discussions and was in favour of invading Paraguay) but his sounded hollow to most voters but when the noted lawyer and author of Argentina’s progressive labour laws, Carlos Saavedra Lamas, (now nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to successfully end the war) joined the new part and when the internationally-famous it built up a loyal voter base who wanted change but did not trust the left-wing United Workers Party or the stuffy Conservative Party. In the last election it attracted 16% of the vote. Policy-wise the National Democratic Party has much in common with the United Workers Party but it also favours the free market but is reactionary towards Marxists and could be seen to have tendencies to see the State as all-powerful. In the current coalition many middle class voters feel the government could become a left-wing dictatorship of the working classes. This keeps most middle class voters away and it is doubtful whether the party has a long-term future being mainly a protest party unless it can seriously challenged the Conservative Party.
The Democratic Union is led by Enrique Pastelle and was the sole party of power from 1921 until 1937. It has dominated the Chamber of Deputies and Senate but the years of corruption, political intimidation of the left, harsh anti-Marxist measures and the recent war have destroyed its voter base. Now its middle class voters looking for a party to support their increased standards of living vote Conservative and its share of the vote fell to just 12%. Now wracked with political backbiting and unclear policy aims for the moment the Democratic Union is all but finished as a political force for the foreseeable future.
The General Democratic Union is a splinter group of the Democratic Union led by the eminent Foreign Affairs Minister Alfredo Castagone (who was offered his old job back in the coalition Government) and in general has the same liberal capitalist free market principles but generally a bit more left-orientated than the Democratic Union. It only received a 3% share of the vote in the last election and like the National Democratic Party is a protest party with little future.
The Marxist Party is legal but only has fringe support among trade union activists, young students, the left-wing intelligentsia and other disaffected groups. It is broadly similar to all Marxist parties but seems unconnected with foreign parties. Only gets around 3% of the vote.
Wednesday, April 24th 2024, 7:58pm
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