10/31/2013 Wikipedia

Workers’ Left Front

31/10/2013

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workers%27_Left_Front

The Workers’ Left Front (Frente de Izquierda y de los Trabajadores) is an alliance of three Trotsykist parties in Argentina formed to fight a number of elections in 2011, announced at a press conference in April that year. They are the Workers’ Party (PO), the Socialist Workers’ Party (PTS), and Socialist Left (IS).

On 12 June they won a provincial deputy in Neuquén Province with 3.60% of the vote. [1] The post will be held in rotation by Alejandro López, Raúl Godoy (PTS), Angélica Lagunas (IS) and Gabriela Suppicich (PO). [2] [3] (However the deputies elected in June only took their seats on 10 December 2011, so each of the four sit for a year running from December to December.) [4]

On 24 July, in the town of Capitán Bermúdez in Santa Fe Province, the PO had a councillor elected, Jorgelina Signa, with 17% of the vote. [5]

On 7 August Liliana Olivero of IS was re-elected to the Córdoba provincial legislature, this post will be rotated with Cintia Frencia (PO) and Laura Vilches (PTS). The list won 3.12% of the vote, this was largely concentrated in the provincial capital where it won 5.45%.

They stood Jorge Altamira of the PO for president and Christian Castillo of the PTS for vice-president on 23 October. [6] On 14 August Altamira and Castillo won 527,237 votes, 2.46%, in a primary election. [7]

On 23 October 2011 they came very close to winning a national deputy in two areas. In Buenos Aires city their vote was only 0.2% short. In Buenos Aires Province their share of the vote would have entitled them to a deputy, but they fell at a second hurdle where they needed to win 3% of the number of voters on the electoral register. The Front mounted a legal challenge to this hurdle, but the courts turned them down.

The Front participated in mobilisations in June 2012. [8] In 2013 it put forward proposals to limit officials’ salaries. [9]

The Front contested the election for Neuquén city council on 30 June 2013. It won 5.7% of the vote, around double its vote for this election in 2011, and roughly in line with its vote in the provincial election that year. [10] Soon after it announced its candidates for the national election. [11] [12]

At the primary elections on 11 August 2013 the Front won over 900 000 votes, fairly close to doubling its vote compared to 2011. It increased its vote in nearly all provinces, in some provinces picking up a significant vote from virtually nowhere, an exception was Buenos Aires city where its vote was down marginally on 2011.

On 6 October the PO had a strong performance in provincial primary elections in Salta Province, winning 22% in Salta city. [13]

At the main election on 27 October they won over a million votes, 5.11%, more than double their vote in 2011. They have won three national deputies: Néstor Pitrola (PO) in Buenos Aires Province, Pablo Sebastián López (PO) in Salta and Nicolás del Caño (PTS) in Mendoza. [14] [15] [16] There is also a challenge to the result in Córdoba Province, where Liliana Olivero (IS) is the candidate.

They have also won three provincial deputies (Cecilia Soria, Martín Dalmau and Héctor Fresina) and a provincial senator (Noelia Barbeito) in Mendoza, and one provincial deputy in each of Buenos Aires City (Marcelo Ramal), Buenos Aires Province (Christian Castillo) and Santiago del Estero (Andrea Ruiz), and five new councillors, all in towns in Mendoza Province. [17] [18]