Christian Gebhardt
In the elections on October 27, the Front of the Left and Workers (FIT) was once again able to improve on its previous results. It received around 1,150,000 votes (5.12 per cent*) 300,000 votes more than at the pre-elections. This was enough to secure three seats with Néstor Pitrola (PO) winning in the province of Buenos Aires, Pablo López (PO) in Salta and Nicolás del Caño (PTS) in Mendoza. This is the first time that the FIT has entered the national Congress. In addition, the FIT is challenging the result in Cordoba, where they suspect fraud and are demanding a recount of the votes.
The FIT is understandably celebrating its wins as a historic triumph yet, amidst the euphoria, one should not forget that this is not the first time in the history of the Argentine Trotskyist movement that an electoral block has achieved substantial support and scored victories in elections**.
We will have to wait to see how the FIT uses its deputies to promote revolutionary politics at a national level and how it can profit from the present crisis of Peronism/Kirchnerism, which manifested itself during these elections.
However, the most important question, aside from the electoral spectacle, is whether the FIT is capable of contributing to the foundation of a revolutionary workers’ party in Argentina. Taken in conjunction with the objective circumstances in the country, in Latin America and the world; this is the measure by which the FIT’s participating groups will have to be judged and not by the number of seats they have in parliament.
* http://argentinienportal.com.ar/content/wahl-2013-das-ergebnis
** http://www.fifthinternational.org/content/mas-izquierda-unida-and-argent…