BUENOS AIRES, October 27 (Itar-Tass) - The elections in the National Congress, Argentinean parliament, will be held in the South American Republic of Argentina. The elections will renew half of the members of the Chamber of Deputies and a third of the members of the Senate.
The outcome of the voting will determine the alignment of political forces before the presidential elections in 2015, when incumbent President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is to leave the presidential post. The Argentinean Constitution bars her from re-election for the third term in succession. Primary elections, which turned in some kind of dress rehearsal of general elections in August 2013, allowed predicting the results of voting, because the preferences of voters have almost not changed for the last three months.
The candidates from the ruling movement Front for Victory, which adheres to the positions of Peronism, are expected to lose to their rivals from the opposition in the capital, the most important cities in the country as well as the largest province Buenos Aires, where 37 percent of country’s population live. Although, in general, the supporters of the government will probably gain a larger percentage of votes, the opposition will build up seriously its positions and will probably even deprive the ruling front of majority in both houses of parliament. Certainly, this alignment of forces will bring to naught the plans of the most zealous supporters of the government to introduce amendments in the Constitution in order to give an opportunity to the president to run for a new term.
The main rivalry will be traditionally waged in the province Buenos Aires, where Tigre Mayor Sergio Massa, who heads the party list from the opposition Renewal Front, still remains the forerunner. According to the results of the public opinion polls, he is far ahead of his rival from the ruling movement, Lomas de Zamora Mayor Martin Insaurralde. Massa has joined the opposition recently and in the meantime he was even the prime minister under the incumbent president for a short period of time. He is considered as one of the main potential contenders for the post of the president in 2015. However, analysts noted the Argentinean experience shows that a candidate, who has the highest chances for victory two years before the presidential elections, is never elected president.
It is not ruled out that a dark horse will appear for this period of time, as was the case with the election with Carlos Menem (1989-1999) or late husband of the incumbent president Nestor Kirchner (2003-2007). The parliamentary elections will be a trial for other politicians with presidential ambitions, such as former Vice-President Julio Cobos, who represents the Radical Civic Union in Mendoza Province, Socialist Hermes Binner from Santa Fe, Governor of Buenos Aires Province and supporter of the government Daniel Scioli.
The parliamentary elections are held at the moment, when the Argentinean president is recuperating after brain hematoma removal surgery that resulted from the trauma. Due to this fact she could not participate in the final stage of the election campaign and support the candidates from the ruling front. The doctors recommended Kirchner full calmness, according to available reports, the president is not following the events in the country. Meanwhile, most likely she will even not participate in the voting. A polling station where she can vote is situated in the city of Rio Gallegos, the administrative centre of the southern province of Santa Cruz, where she is registered as an eligible voter. But the medics banned any flights to her over the state of health.