We have results of the legislative elections and to the disgust of people who don't like Kirchner, I'm sorry to tell you that the FPV+allies have gotten a majority in both chambers.
By the way, the Frente Amplio Progresista is Binner's coalition but I'm to immature to call them FAP
In the lower house (house of deputies) the new congress will be like this:
FPV + Official allies = 135 seats
UCR = 42 seats
"Federal Peronism" = 27 seats
Frente Amplio Progresista = 17 seats
PRO = 10 seats
Civic Coalition = 7 seats
Others, including provincial parties = 19 seats
You get the majority of the chamber with 129.
The FPV alone has 116 seats, but there are 19 official allies who are basically the FPV with another name, so that's why they are grouped together. Cristina will probably have a larger working majority because in the category of Federal Peronism you have people like Felipe Sola, who has voiced support in the recent months, despite being in opposition in 2009. The same thing with the provincial parties.
Communists were close to getting at least 1 legislator but failed.
If it weren't because the Civic Coalition (Carrio's party) did well in 2009, they would almost be completely wiped out right now. In this election they only won 1 legislator (Patricia Bullrich, probably the most known face of the party after Carrio).
In the senate:
FPV + allies = 38 seats
UCR = 17 seats
"Federal Peronism" = 10 seats
FAP
= 3 seats
Civic Coalition = 1 seat
Others = 3 seats
You get the majority with 37 seats (or in Cristina's case 36, because of the VP)
Be aware that these are still provisional results and some sources give different numbers. There are still some recounts to be made to determine how many seats will go to each party in the close districts and there may also be a different criteria for grouping the parties (for instance, one source might count Carlos Menem in the FPV + allies category and another one could place him in the Federal Peronism category).
The final results will probably be available in a few days, but this is a good sketch of how the congress will look in December.
Why did Duhalde collapse so badly?
Duhalde has always been sort of unpopular nationally, even back in the days when he was vice president and then governor of the Province of Benos Aires. Incumbents in the province of BA usually have a strong advantage because they are the ones that control the money for the metropolitan area mayors and they provide the people. But even still, Duhalde managed to lose the province against De la Rua in 99 while running for president.
The truth is that after the 2001 crash, the economy started it's recovery in 2002 under Duhalde and by May 2003 (when Kirchner was sworn in) the country was pretty stable and growing, so the guy came in with awful approvals in early 2002, but left with pretty decent ones.
Of course the country continued growing under Kirchner and Duhalde started losing power (remember that Kirchner was supposed to be Duhalde's puppet), so by 2004 or 2005 Duhalde became the opposition and the contrast was not good. on one hand a growing country with a popular Kirchner and on the other hand a guy who criticized everything they did. Slowly, people started remembering why they hated him so much in the 90's.
Nowadays with a fractured opposition, people who wanted to vote against Kirchner had to choose one. People here in the city for instance were convinced that because of his experience and because he was a former governor of the province of BA, Duhalde was favored. It was not uncommon to hear people here talking about how Duhalde was going to beat Cristina (I even heard talk like that as late as in June). So, a lot of people supported him in the city and the province of BA. Opposition to Cristina was the only possible explanation of why someone like him could win in neighbourhoods like Recoleta, Belgrano and Palermo. He turned out to be a big disappointment winning just 12% of the vote and finishing 3rd nationally and people again started to remember how much they hated him, so it was logical that his support would plummet, now that the people realised he was not the right candidate, and this was predicted even the same day the primaries took place.
In one of the last polls before the election, the only candidates who had a positive approval rating were Cristina and Binner, all the other were negative. Duhalde had about 20% favorable and something like a 75% unfavorable rating. The only one worse was Carrio.
Long-Story-Short then is a re-election for the President?
I'm starting to believe you are pulling my leg
Polls before the election also showed some bizarre info on how the candidate votes break down.
For instance, Socialist Hermes Binner biggest supporters are the middle class and the upper Middle class while he does like crap among the poor.
UCR's Ricardo Alfonsin best group is old people while his worst is in the 18-29 age group, which I guess it makes sense
Duhalde does the worst among young people.
Hilariously, communist Jorge Altamira does his best among the poor and the
upper middle class, lol.
