Just over two-thirds of Argentines think Vice-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner should be put behind bars for alleged corruption offences, a new poll claims.
Some 67 percent of 2,500 people surveyed replied positively to the question:”Would you like to see Cristina Kirchner go to jail?” in the poll, which was carried out by the Giacobbe y Asociados consultancy firm.
The vice-president has experienced a decline in her popularity following the ongoing Vialidad Santa Cruz highway contracts trial, where she has been accused of public works graft on a massive school, the survey’s authors said.
The nationwide poll was carried out between August 9 and 12 via mobile telephones with a two percent margin of error.
While 67.4 percent felt that Cristina should go to jail, 20.9 percent disagreed and 11.1 percent said: “I don’t care.”
“I find the contrast between what happens in the judicial system and public opinion interesting,” said political analyst Jorge Giacobbe, responding to the results. “We must understand that the public have already passed judgement.”
“You have on one hand 20.9 percent who say they don’t want her to go to prison – hardcore Kirchnerites who deny what the justice system has said. If you add the 11 percent who say ‘I don’t care’ to this 21 percent of Kirchnerites, you virtually have the 33 percent who voted for Frente de Todos in last year’s midterms.
“This is an X-ray of the Kirchnerite public with 11 percent of the 33 percent at risk. If the 11 percent break away, that would be terrible in 2023. Losing in 2023 with 35 percent is not the same as losing with 20 percent. It would weaken them enormously,” the pollster added.
– TIMES/PERFIL
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