Latin American expert available to comment on Argentine elections

MEDIA ADVISORY

David Ruth
713-348-6327
david@rice.edu

Latin American expert available to comment on Argentine elections

HOUSTON – (Oct. 23, 2015) – On Sunday, Argentina will hold national elections for president, half of its lower Chamber, a third of its Senate and 11 of 24 provinces will vote for governor.

Image courtesy Rice University/thinkstockphotos.com

Mark Jones, the Joseph D. Jamail Chair in Latin American Studies, professor of political science and fellow in political science at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, is available beginning today and through the election’s results.

Jones, one of the nation’s foremost experts on Latin American political issues, wrote an Argentine-election preview for the Washington Post in August titled “Here’s what you need to know about Argentina’s 2015 federal elections.”

The presidential race pits Buenos Aires governor Daniel Scioli, who is the candidate of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s Front for Victory, against two opposition candidates: Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri of the We Can Change alliance and National Deputy Sergio Massa of the United for a New Alternative alliance.

“Of the three candidates, Scioli is the candidate of continuity, with Argentine policies expected to change the least from the current status quo under a Scioli presidency,” Jones said. “Macri, in contrast, is the candidate of change, potentially representing the most dramatic break from the status quo. Massa is the ‘Goldilocks’ candidate, promising a level of change greater than Scioli but not as much as Macri; that is a change from the status quo that he refers to as ‘just right.’

“Cristina Fernández’s successor will inherit a country where the economy is stagnant,” Jones said. “The fiscal deficit is unsustainable and rising. Foreign and domestic investment is anemic. Inflation is running at 30 percent. The Argentine peso is overvalued by around 75 percent. Drug-related violence and corruption are on the rise, and after almost 13 years, the country still remains an outcast in the international financial community.”

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