Argentina’s Peronist machine is in high gear to shore up shaky votes before the presidential runoff

By DANIEL POLITI
Associated Press

CIUDAD EVITA, Argentina (AP) — As Argentina heads for a presidential runoff election on Sunday, the decades-old populist movement known as Peronism is on shaky ground. Its candidate has lost some traction, even among longtime loyalists living in a suburb of the capital named after former first lady María Eva Duarte de Perón, better known as Evita. The Peronist candidate, Economy Minister Sergio Massa, is working overtime to keep once-steadfast supporters from straying to his opponent, right-wing populist Javier Milei. Massa has kicked the Peronist vote-getting machine into overdrive and has pulled out all stops from his ministerial post, providing cash benefits for workers, retirees and unemployed people, to the chagrin of political opponents and fiscal hawks.