Myriam Bregman, Frente de Izquierda (FIT) candidate for national deputy representing the City, said Sunday night that Argentina’s main left-wing coalition had delivered an “impressive” performance in Sunday’s PASO primaries.
Hailing the left’s grassroots growth during the coronavirus pandemic and recent economic turmoil, Bregman said that the Frente de Izquierda y De Trabajadores - Unidad (FITU) coalition’s performances in Buenos Aires City and Province were “the best results achieved in the PASO since the creation of FIT.”
The left-wing alliance, which posted two slates in both regions, finished fourth in the capital with 6.23 percent of the vote, winning more than 108,000 votes, and third in the province with 5.22 percent – more than 430,000 ballots.
Undoubtedly the left's strongest performance was seen in Jujuy Province, where a list headed by Alejandro Vilca helped FITU take 23.32 percent of all votes. A repeat of that performance in November would see the left claim a seat in the lower house Chamber of Deputies.
Candidate for national deputy in Buenos Aires Province, former presidential hopeful Nicolás del Caño, also hailed the coalition’s performance.
“Good national election for FITU fighting for more seats in Congress and legislatures,” he wrote in a post on social networks.
Bregman, 49, will top a unified slate in the City in November’s midterms after taking 86.2 percent of FIT’s votes in the federal capital, seeing off a challenge from a list topped by Celeste Fierro.
In a post on Twitter, the hopeful thanked those who backed her ticket and said that the left would offer “unity” to voters in November.
"We are very close to achieving this force’s objective of expressing itself in Congress," declared the candidate.
"Despite the neglect of many, those who bet with everything on the growth of the right, we are showing that there is a force that can grow from the ground up," declared Bregman, who said the left’s performance was “a great surprise” to the political class.
In a radio interview on Sunday night, she said that the left “has to be in the National Congress and Legislature” in order to push back against the right’s agenda, while also highlighting the performance of Avanza Libertad in the PASO.
The libertarian alliance outscored FIT in Buenos Aires City, with outspoken economist Javier Milei helping Avanza Libertad into third with more than 10 percent of the vote. Meanwhile, on the nation’s key battleground, Buenos Aires Province, FIT retained third spot, outperforming both the libertarians (represented in the region by José Luis Espert) and the ticket topped by dissident Peronist, former interior minister Florencio Randazzo.
Local daily La Nación said the FITU's results had "consolidated it as the third force in a large part of the country's districts," while noting that a repeat of the same results in November would see it retain its two deputies in the lower house, while adding two more – one in the City and one from Jujuy. Underlining its progress, the newspaper said the left-wing's results in the Buenos Aires City and Province were almost double that attained in 2017's PASO.
– TIMES/NA/PERFIL
Comments