(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Néstor Kirchner could earn a second term as Argentina’s president, according to a poll by Ipsos Mora y Araujo published in El Clarn. 52 per cent of respondents would vote for the current head of state in this year’s election.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Néstor Kirchner could earn a second term as Argentina’s president, according to a poll by Ipsos Mora y Araujo published in El Clarn. 52 per cent of respondents would vote for the current head of state in this year’s election.
Mauricio Macri of Commitment for Change (CC) is a distant second with eight per cent, followed by former economy minister Roberto Lavagna with five per cent, and Elisa Carri³ of the Alliance Affirmation for an Egalitarian Republic (ARI) also with five per cent. Support is lower for former president Carlos Menem and Neuquen governor Jorge Sobisch.
Kirchner finished second to Menem in the election held in April 2003. Menem withdrew from the scheduled run-off after voting intention polls suggested an overwhelming victory for Kirchner, candidate of the Front for Victory (FV).
A separate sample places first lady and Buenos Aires senator Cristina Fern¡ndez de Kirchner in first place with 37 per cent. Support for the five remaining candidates stands below the 10 per cent mark.
Argentina has held five presidential elections since the demise of an eight-year military dictatorship in 1982. In the event no candidate garners more than 45 per cent of the vote—or reaches a percentage between 40 and 45 per cent with a 10 per cent lead over the closest competitor—a run-off between the two leading candidates must take place.
On Jan. 26, the government authorized former and current military and police officials, as well as government employees, to reveal state secrets if called to testify in trials related to human right violations. The lifting of a previous ban on this type of information is part of the current government’s promise to “fight impunity in all its forms” and seeks to accelerate hundreds of on-going trials on the Argentinean “dirty war.”
Two years ago, Argentina’s Supreme Court annulled the amnesty laws that protected military and police agents who might have assisted the repressive junta. About 13,000 people are officially listed as missing during the 1976-1983 dictatorship, although human rights groups claim the toll is closer to 30,000.
The next presidential election in Argentina is scheduled for Oct. 28.
Polling Data
Who would you vote for in the next presidential election?
Option 1
Néstor Kirchner | 52% |
Mauricio Macri | 8% |
Roberto Lavagna | 5% |
Elisa Carri³ | 5% |
Carlos Menem | 3% |
Jorge Sobisch | 3% |
Other | 10% |
Not sure / No reply | 14% |
Option 2
Cristina Fern¡ndez de Kirchner | 37% |
Mauricio Macri | 9% |
Roberto Lavagna | 6% |
Elisa Carri³ | 6% |
Carlos Menem | 3% |
Jorge Sobisch | 3% |
Other | 15% |
Not sure / No reply | 21% |
Source: Ipsos Mora y Araujo / El Clarn
Methodology: Interviews to 1,200 Argentine adults, conducted from Jan. 6 to Jan. 14, 2007. Margin of error is 2.8 per cent.
