Peronism at its lowest level of votes in La Matanza

In La Matanza, the main district of the province of Buenos Aires in electoral terms, the ruling Union for the Fatherland lost more than 20 percentage points in relation to the PASO of 2019, and the mayor Fernando Espinoza, although he won the internal space, managed that his candidacy barely harvested 27 percent of the more than 635,000 positive votes cast. These numbers are close to the worst in the history of Matanzas Peronism, where that force on more than one occasion knew how to approach and even exceed 65 percent of the votes. In the internal Peronist that was settled in the PASO, Espinoza obtained 170,682 votes against 109,593 of Patricia “La Colo” Cubría, wife of the piquetero leader and official Emilio Pérsico, who represented the Evita Movement and a group of other social organizations. It still remains to wait for the final scrutiny to know if the defeated list reaches the 40 percent necessary to incorporate candidates in the lists of councilors and school counselors. This data is not minor, and contrary to what could be assumed, from the local ruling party they expect Cubría to reach that figure, since the incorporation of his representatives in the October payroll would be a reassurance to avoid flight of votes and also for this sector to “militate” the Espinoza campaign actively. The 27 percent obtained by Espinoza is one of the worst elections of the Peronist mayors, particularly because it is proven that when there is internal competition the party mobilization increases, and with it better numbers are achieved. In La Matanza, the unified lists of Union for All achieved 44 percent of the total, while in Tigre or Hurlingham, where there was also an inmate, it exceeded 50 percent. In order of lists, the second and surprising place went to Adrián Martínez, better known as El Dipy, a popular cumbia singer who from the pandemic and the confinement due to the quarantine began to talk about politics on social networks and then became accustomed to some TV programs. When I win the first thing I’m going to do is get all the gnocchi out of the municipality,” were the first words of the emboldened political representative in the district of Javier Milei.El Dipy obtained no less than 148,163 votes (23.97 percent), with a tiny campaign on public roads, but very powerful in the “alternative” radios. which are counted by hundreds in La Matanza. The singer made the most of all his contacts harvested over several decades in music to reach, through those FM, every corner of Matanzas. In a surprising third place was Together for Change, which spent many millions on the campaign but fell even short of its weak 2019 performance. The three lists of JxC barely reached 22.82 percent of the votes and did not even respond to the most affluent areas of the district, in which historically knew how to fight vote by vote, such as Ramos Mejía or Lomas del Mirador, which usually vote in line with the city of Buenos Aires. on behalf of the sector that supported Patricia Bullrich, he was the winner of the internal and now he must find a way so that the so-called “useful vote”, which could favor El Dipy, does not totally marginalize him from the fight. Espinoza now appears more than ever favorite to retain the municipality, despite all the management problems he had in recent years, especially for issues of insecurity. In any case, it will depend to a large extent on how the 100,000 voters who supported Cubría, who is not personally favored by an official victory, move.

Original source in Spanish