Reconstructive criticism

PERONISM, Sergio Massa told The Economist recently, “permanently reconstructs itself”. In various guises it has ruled Argentina for all but two of the past 22 years. Given the disappointing performance of its main vehicle, the Front for Victory (FPV) of Argentina’s president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, in congressional elections on October 27th, it is ripe for another rejig. And Mr Massa (pictured), the mayor of Tigre, a town 30km north of Buenos Aires, is positioning himself as the man for the job. His own Front for Renovation (FR), created in June after he aburptly broke ranks with Ms Fernández, whom he served as cabinet chief in 2008-09, was off to a flying start. Non-Peronists did fairly well, too, though they are divided between a centre-left Radical-Socialist bloc and PRO, the conservative party of Mauricio Macri, the mayor of Buenos Aires.

The FPV-led coalition won the biggest share of the vote and grabbed 47 of 127 seats that were up for grabs in the House of Deputies and 14 of 25 seats in the Senate. That leaves it with three more seats in the lower house and three fewer in the upper chamber compared with the previous Congress, letting it keep slim majorities in both houses, which it has enjoyed since Ms Fernández was re-elected with 54% of the vote in 2011. The handful of parties coalesced around Mr Massa's Peronist alternative won 27 seats, with the rest going to the centre-left and the conservatives.

But the numbers belie the FPV's faded grandeur. It was the only party to field candidates almost nationwide. Many of the contested seats were ultra-safe ones it managed to hold on to even in 2009, when it reached an electoral nadir after the president’s unpopular decision to increase agricultural import taxes.

The FPV did poorly in the five voting districts considered most important, including traditional strongholds such as Ms Fernández’s home province of Santa Cruz, where her candidate lost by 16 points to a Radical Party candidate. In Buenos Aires province Mr Massa's FR trounced the FPV list, headed by a loyalist, Martín Insaurralde, by 43% to 32%. That gave it 16 of the 35 seats in the province, home not just to the country's capital but also one-third of its population.

The results put paid to Ms Fernández's plan to amend the constitution to let her run for a third term, which would require a two-thirds majority in Congress. Many Argentines will be relieved. They are fed up with her mismanagement of the economy. Rampant inflation of 25% a year, according to independent estimates, is destroying savings and discouraging investment. Exchange controls make it hard to seek safer assets abroad, though a black market in dollars has sprung up to meet demand for hard currency. Costly energy imports have whittled foreign reserves down to around $35 billion, their lowest level in six years. An anaemic tourism industry, traditionally a source of dollars, has failed to replenish them.

Some voters have also grown tired of the president's crusade against independent institutions in the judiciary and the media. Many more were put off by investigations into the alledged shady business dealings of her late husband and predecessor, Nestor Kirchner. Ever her physical capacity to govern was called into question after she had to undergo emergency surgery to drain a build-up of blood near her brain earlier this month.

Mr Massa astutely detached himself from his old boss just enough to seduce her detractors, but not so far as to alienate her persistently large support base, composed mostly of younger and poorer Argentines. The FR is against cuts to public spending, which has ballooned under Ms Fernández, and backs the government’s popular social programmes such as the universal child allowance, which give cash to needy parents in exchange for taking their children to medical appointments and keeping them enrolled in school. Conceding that inflation is a problem, which the government denies by publishing dodgy figures, the FR wants to create a special inflation-reduction committee, though it has ruled out devaluing the peso.

The party also talks tough on crime, which has been getting out of hand under Ms Fernández's rule. Statistics are patchy, but a report by America's State Departmentpoints to an increase in the incidence and violence of street and residential crime, including armed assult. A survey in Buenos Aires found that 85% of the capital's inhabitants ranked security as their biggest concern.

Mr Massa owes much of his popularity to improving security in Tigre. Over his two terms he has installed 1,000 CCTV cameras and hooked up 25,000 residents to a silent-alarm system. He also orchestrated a visit by Rudolph Giuliani, New York's former mayor whose name is a byword for successful crime-busting. Car theft, one category for which reliable figures exist, has dropped in the town, according to CESVI, a road-safety group.

It remains to be seen if Mr Massa, who has earned a reputation as a capable manager, can now excel at the different sort of skill required to navigate Congress. His heterogeneous block may also prove a handful. Its deputies include another former Kirchnerist mayor, ananti-Kirchnerist journalist and a former governor who has jumped between four different parties. Prior to the election one FPV leader compared it to a cover of a celebrity magazine.

Before the poll Mr Massa appeared unfazed by such concerns. “I’m only 41. I’m not in a race against time,” he insisted, leaning back in an armchair, casually puffing a cigarillo. Maybe not. But he is in one against Daniel Scioli, the Kirchnerist regarded as his main rival for the presidency. As governor of Buenos Aires province, Mr Scioli will not need to jostle for media attention against 256 deputies. He will also remain above petty politicking, horse-trading and sordid compromises that characterise congressional life. And although Mr Scioli's decision to stick by Ms Fernández has tarnished his image slightly, he remains popular. The election made clear that Ms Fernández's time is almost up. It is less certain who will succeed her as Peronism's next architect-in-chief.