Workers' Left Front
The Workers' Left Front – Unity (Spanish: Frente de Izquierda y de los Trabajadores – Unidad, FIT-U) is an alliance of initially three Trotskyist parties in Argentina formed to participate in elections in 2011, announced at a press conference in April that year. They are the Workers' Party (PO), the United Socialist Workers' Party (PSTU),[6] the Socialist Workers' Party (PTS), and Socialist Left (IS). In 2019, the Workers' Socialist Movement (MST) joined the alliance.[7]
Workers' Left Front – Unity Frente de Izquierda y de los Trabajadores – Unidad | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | FIT-U |
| Leader | Nicolás del Caño |
| Founded | April 14, 2011 |
| Headquarters | Buenos Aires |
| Ideology | Trotskyism[1][2] |
| Political position | Far-left[3][4][5] |
| Colours | Pink |
| Seats in the Chamber of Deputies | 4 / 257 |
| Seats in the Senate | 0 / 72 |
These parties had stood separately at the Argentine elections of 2007 and 2009, the PO on its own, and the PTS and IS in an alliance with the Movement for Socialism (MAS). At these two elections the PO did better than the PTS-IS-MAS alliance, and in 2009 both groupings seriously increased their vote in proportion to their vote in 2007.
History edit
2011 edit
On 12 June, they won a provincial deputy in Neuquén Province with 3.60% of the vote.[8] The post will be held in rotation by Alejandro López, Raúl Godoy (PTS), Angélica Lagunas (IS) and Gabriela Suppicich (PO).[9][10] (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.)[11]
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.[12]
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.[13] On 14 August Altamira and Castillo won 527,237 votes, 2.46%, in a primary election.[14]
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.[15] In 2013, it put forward proposals to limit officials' salaries.[16]
2013 edit
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.[17] Soon after it announced its candidates for the national election.[18][19]
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.[20]
At the main election on 27 October, they won over a million votes, 5.11%, more than double their vote in 2011. They won three national deputies: Néstor Pitrola (PO) in Buenos Aires Province, Pablo Sebastián López (PO) in Salta and Nicolás del Caño (PTS) in Mendoza.[21][22][23] There was a challenge to the result in Córdoba Province, where Liliana Olivero (IS) was the candidate.
They 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.[24][25][26]
On 10 November, the PO had a serious success in provincial elections in Salta Province, winning a provincial senator (Gabriela Cerrano) and four provincial deputies (Julio Quintana, Claudio del Plá, Gabriela Jorge and Norma Colpari) all elected in the provincial capital.[27][28] They also won 17 councilors, including 9 out of the 21 seats on Salta city council, where the PO is now the largest party.[29]
2014 edit
On 29 January, the Front registered its alliance to contest the municipal election in Mendoza Province. In Mendoza, Argentina the list was headed by Macarena Escudero (PTS), a student, followed by Soledad Sosa and Andrés Elías (both PO). The PO headed the list in San Carlos, Mendoza.[30][31]
On 30 March, the Front received 13.5% of the vote in Mendoza city, so Macarena Escudero was elected as a councillor.[32]
2015 edit
The Front's first election of 2015 was local primary elections on 22 February in Mendoza. The Front came 2nd with 16% of the vote, and Andrés Elías is predicted to be elected as a city councilor.[33][34]
In April, it won a second provincial deputy in Neuquén. The seats will be held by Raúl Godoy (PTS) and Patricia Jure (PO), to be followed by Angélica Lagunas (IS). It also won a councilor in the town of Andacollo for the first time.
In June, in Mendoza Province Macarena Escudero was elected as a provincial deputy, and Víctor da Vila was elected as a provincial senator.[35]
In the presidential elections, two formulas competed in the primaries in August: one represented by Nicolas del Caño and Myriam Bregman (both from the PTS) against another composed of Jorge Altamira (PO) and Juan Carlos Giordano (IS — Socialist Left). The PTS formula won, with 375,874 votes against 356,977 of the PO+IS one, both adding up to a 3.25% of the total vote.[36] On the main elections in October, Nestor Pitrola was elected as a national deputy for the Buenos Aires province, becoming the fourth Workers' Left Front deputy in the chamber, while the presidential formula headed by Del Caño got 812.530 votes, a 3.23% of the total.[37][circular reference]
2019 edit
After several weeks of meetings, the Workers' Socialist Movement (MST) agreed on June 11, 2019 to join the Front for the October general election.[7]
2021 edit
At the 2021 Argentine legislative election, the Front had its best performance yet, winning 5.91% of the vote and four seats in the national Chamber of Deputies (two in Buenos Aires Province, one each in Buenos Aires City and Jujuy Province).[38]
See also edit
References edit
- ^ "¿Qué es el trotskismo?: ¿utopía virginal o experiencia probada y fracasada?".
- ^ "Qué es el trotskismo, por un trotskista argentino".
- ^ "La izquierda se consolida como tercera fuerza nacional y confía en ampliar su bancada a partir de diciembre". 28 October 2021.
- ^ "La izquierda se consolida como tercera fuerza e irrumpe en los concejos deliberantes bonaerenses". 20 November 2021.
- ^ "Elecciones 2021: Las diferencias que impiden una alianza de los partidos de izquierda". 27 March 2021.
- ^ "El PSTU irá en las listas de PO-MST en el FITU". United Socialist Workers' Party. 4 July 2023. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
- ^ a b "La izquierda realizará un importante anuncio de listas unitarias en todo el país". La Izquierda Diario. 11 June 2019. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
- ^ http://resultados2011.neuquen.gov.ar/consulta/diputados.html 2011-06-16 at the Wayback Machine Neuquén result
- ^ http://po.org.ar/articulo/actualidad-20110612-2200/frente-de-izquierda-debuto-en-neuquen-conquistando-legislador 2011-06-16 at the Wayback Machine PO on Neuquén victory (Spanish)
- ^ http://www.ft-ci.org/article.php3?id_article=4213?lang=en PTS on Neuquén victory (English)
- ^ http://neuquenalinstante.com.ar/2011/12/10/de-obrero-de-zanon-a-diputado-provincial-neuquino/ 2015-05-12 at the Wayback Machine report on López taking his seat (Spanish)
- ^ http://po.org.ar/blog/2012/12/20/la-accion-de-las-bancadas-del-frente-de-izquierda/ 2012-12-30 at the Wayback Machine article by her with photo (Spanish)
- ^ http://www.pts.org.ar/spip.php?article17502 announcement
- ^ http://www.fiscaldemesa.com.ar/2011/08/30/primaria-presidencial-resultados-finales/ 2012-04-02 at the Wayback Machine Argentine official website (Spanish)
- ^ http://www.pts.org.ar/spip.php?article20779 article on June 2012 (Spanish)
- ^ "No member of parliament or state official should earn more than a teacher!".
- ^ http://po.org.ar/blog/2013/07/04/una-votacion-promisoria-del-frente-de-izquierda/ 2013-09-06 at the Wayback Machine PO on result of election (Spanish)
- ^ http://po.org.ar/blog/2013/06/11/el-frente-de-izquierda-cerro-un-acuerdo-nacional-en-19-provincias/ 2013-10-02 at the Wayback Machine PO on national candidates (Spanish)
- ^ http://www.pts.org.ar/Acuerdo-de-candidaturas-nacionales-del-Frente-de-Izquierda-en-19-distritos-electorales PTS on national candidates (Spanish)
- ^ [1] Salta No Es Una Isla (Spanish)
- ^ http://www.ft-ci.org/ARGENTINA-A-historic-election-for-the-Workers-and-Left-Front-three-national?lang=en 2013-11-01 at the Wayback Machine FT-CI announces Front's result (English)
- ^ http://www.buenosairesherald.com/article/143866/workers%E2%80%99-leftist-front-takes-three-seats-in-lower-house Buenos Aires Herald report (English)
- ^ http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1633137-el-frente-de-izquierda-hace-una-eleccion-historica-y-gana-tres-bancas-en-diputados La Nacion report (Spanish)
- ^ "Los legisladores provinciales del Frente de Izquierda se presentan: quiénes son y qué harán". Diario El Sol Mendoza (in Spanish). 2013-10-29.
- ^ http://www.diariopanorama.com/seccion/locales_13/por-primera-vez-en-la-historia-el-frente-de-izquierda-ingresa-en-la-camara-de-diputados_a_159009 report on Santiago del Estero result (Spanish)
- ^ http://www.ft-ci.org/Argentina-Defeat-for-the-government-and-a-breakthrough-for-the-revolutionary?lang=en Argentina Defeat for the government and a breakthrough for the revolutionary left (English)
- ^ http://www.eldiplo.org/notas-web/trotskismo-recargado?token&nID=1 Le Monde Diplomatique article (Spanish)
- ^ http://www.electoralsalta.gov.ar/Sitio/2013/wfGeneralesProclamacion.aspx# Official proclamation of results (Spanish)
- ^ http://www.informatesalta.com.ar/noticia.asp?q=54840 2013-11-12 at the Wayback Machine Informe Salta (Spanish)
- ^ http://www.pts.org.ar/El-FIT-inscribio-su-alianza-para-las-elecciones-municipales-de-Mendoza-24676 announcement (Spanish)
- ^ http://prensa.po.org.ar/po1302/2014/02/13/presentamos-los-candidatos-al-concejo/ 2014-03-06 at the Wayback Machine (Spanish)
- ^ "El FIT consolida histórica elección de octubre".
- ^ . 19 February 2021. Archived from the original on 15 February 2017. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
- ^ "El Frente de Izquierda segunda fuerza en Mendoza". 23 February 2015.
- ^ . Archived from the original on 2015-06-29. Retrieved 2015-06-28.
- ^ (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2023-09-22.
- ^ es:Elecciones presidenciales de Argentina de 2015
- ^ Del Plá, Romina (14 November 2021). "Romina Del Plá: "La gran elección de la izquierda, un punto de apoyo para enfrentar el pacto con el FMI"". Workers' Party (Argentina) (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 November 2021.
External links edit
- PO article (Spanish) 2011-04-17 at the Wayback Machine
- PTS article (Spanish)
- Programme of the Workers' Left Front (English)
- Castillo on result of primary elections (English)
- Manifesto for the 2013 election
- Front's election bulletin page
- Map of performance at August 2013 primaries
- Map of performance at October 2013 main election
- Argentine socialist speaks in Belfast, Dublin (English)