“They are desperate so that only the rich can run for elections”

Pure demagogy. Almost a year into the government of Freedom Advancesmore than half of the population in Argentina is below the poverty line, while large financial speculators, large energy businessmen or miners, among others, live a party. As Javier Milei himself confessed a few weeks ago, the only priority for the ruling party is to pay the external debt, while adjusting to retirees, education or public health.

However, for the presidential spokesperson, Manuel Adorni, as a representative of a government that is cute cat of economic powerwhat it is always about is directing our gaze elsewhere and hiding the contrast of this situation with the enormous benefits that they give to the most concentrated economic power.

In this case, and under a misleading discourse of taking advantage of discontent with “politics”, something very easy after the disaster of the last Peronist and Cambiemos governments, Adorni announced during the afternoon of this Friday that the government will send the National Congress a project to implement electoral reform.

Stripping away all the demagoguery, however, the only truth that stands out is that The ad seeks to ensure that only millionaires can engage in politics, of course, to increasingly benefit the millionaires themselves and take advantage of discontent with the political regime to make it increasingly undemocratic. By seeking to eliminate state financing, it seeks to implement an undemocratic attack against the voters and against the popular will, by wanting to prevent all proposals from being disseminated on equal terms.

Additionally, it should be noted that it is also doubtful that they have the votes for the complete approval of the project in the National Congress, which must be strongly denounced but not ruled out that at least in part It is a distraction and demagogy maneuver while they apply their economic policy that increasingly generates strong social discontent, at the same time that everything is crossed by the negotiation between LLA and the PRO in view of the 2025 elections and the necessary votes. for the approval of each law.

As reported Myriam Bregman on her social networks, we are facing “a government desperate so that only the rich can run for elections. They think they are Trump, guys.”

A government desperate so that only the rich can stand for election. They think they’re Trump, the boys.

— Myriam Bregman (@myriambregman) November 15, 2024

Indeed, Within the announced project, the proposal to eliminate the PASO is announced – the left was always against the PASO from the first moment – but it also highlights completely anti-democratic axes and in favor of the great economic power such as: the increase in private contributions (greater privatization and interference of economic power in the electoral system, to shape a system that is increasingly favorable to the rich); the elimination of electoral advertising spaces that the media must give up by law (open censorship of those who are not financed by big business); or the elimination of public financing for campaigns (seeking to attack the right of voters to have equal access to all proposals). At the same time, the requirements to establish itself as a political party are raised: having 0.5% of members on the electoral roll; have a minimum floor of 3% of the votes in two consecutive elections”.

None of this is surprising. They engage in demagogy by denouncing electoral spending to hide the benefits from millionaires and not to create a more democratic regime but rather a much more undemocratic one in which only millionaires can stand for election. It is not surprising either from a government that from the beginning made use and abuse of completely undemocratic mechanisms such as the DNU or the veto of laws approved by the National Congress, always with the complicity of legislators. collaborationists of the PRO, the UCR or Peronism, which favored each and every one of these maneuvers, as well as the indispensable collaboration and truce of the union leaders who only support their own bureaucratic interests.

The left, as always, will be at the forefront of denouncing this maneuver.