Pope Francis’s native Argentina has swung sharply to the left in its recent general election. Amid a deep economic crisis, conservative president Mauricio Macri was easily defeated by Peronist challenger Alberto Fernández.
This also marks a dramatic return to power for left-wing former president Cristina Kirchner, who with her late husband Néstor dominated the country from 2003 to 2015. Kirchner, who left office dogged by high inflation and corruption scandals, is now the vice president-elect.
Mauricio Macri was seen as a standard-bearer for a new generation of pro-market leaders in Latin America, and his liberalisation of the economy had some initial success. However, an economic crisis beginning in 2018 brought a devaluation of the peso, rocketing inflation, austerity budgets and the International Monetary Fund’s largest ever bailout. This set the scene for the return of Kirchnerism.
