In soccer, a “golazo” is a superhuman goal, sort of like the soccer version of the Willie Mays catch from the 1954 World Series. I always think of Pele when I think of a “golazo”.
They had the political equivalent of a “golazo” down in Argentina. The opposition candidate shocked the experts by forcing a runoff.
This is from Pan Am Post:
After six hours of radio silence, Argentina’s election authorities finally unveiled the results of the presidential vote, shocking the nation.All pre-election polls predicted that President Cristina Kirchner’s chosen successor, Daniel Scioli, would secure a close first-round victory, but reality is a cruel mistress.Conservative rival Mauricio Macri came in with a surprisingly strong performance to win almost 34.5 percent of the vote, while Scioli finished with 37 percent. The 2-point difference forces a runoff scheduled for November 22 that will determine the next president of Argentina.This scenario was unthinkable even a few weeks ago, and Scioli may have suffered a significant blow to his campaign with this result. Since the very beginning of the race, Scioli has been the favorite to win it all, partly encouraged by the state-run media apparatus.However, the governor of the vast province of Buenos Aires — a Peronist stronghold, which has been ruled by his party for the last 28 years — couldn’t even secure victory on his own turf, and this may ultimately cost him in the runoff.
The runoff will be hard because the government will use public resources to win. However, the possibility of a conservative victory has to be taken seriously.
Let me add a couple of thoughts about this shocking election:
1) Argentina is just the latest place where pollsters got it wrong; and,
2) the results confirm that there is a middle-class revolt in Latin America. It has to do with the perfect storm of heavy taxation, an abusive bureaucracy disconnected from the people, lousy public services and too much crony capitalism.
We are seeing it in Brazil and now in Argentina.
P. S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
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