Front Runner

Peronists pick a candidate

In a preliminary conference, one faction stuffed delegates' pockets with bribes of up to $1,000, then threatened them with guns. At the national convention, appropriately held in a Buenos Aires musical-comedy theater, internecine feuding forced a two-day recess. When the 605 delegates finally came to a vote, however, they momentarily put their differences behind them. By an overwhelming margin, the Peronist Party nominated Italo Argentino Luder, 66, as its candidate for next month's elections, Argentina's first since the military seized power seven years ago. Declared Luder: "To be the candidate of Peronismo is to be certain of becoming President."

At least that is how things used to work. Ever since the Peronist Party was founded in 1946 as the political base of the late dictator Juan Domingo Peron, the group has won every presidential election in which it was free to participate. Largely because of Peron's seemingly indelible charisma, the party has had a near mystical sway over a vast poor and working-class constituency. Today, however, the Peronists are torn by factional feuding, an affliction that many members believe could be cured if only Isabel (born Maria Estela) Martinez de Peron, the dictator's widow, would assert herself. Isabelita, as she is widely called, was ousted by the military in 1976 and banned from politics after a disastrous 21-month reign as Argentine President. She fled to self-exile in Spain, but last week the government restored her political rights, and many Peronists expect her to return at any moment. Meanwhile, the Peronists' principal opposition, the centrist Radical Party, has rapidly been gaining strength.

The hotly contested presidential race signals a welcome return to democracy. Since overthrowing Isabelita, Argentina's military rulers have run into nothing but trouble. The economy is a shambles, with inflation running at an annual rate of about 400%, reportedly the world's highest. Argentines were sickened by the regime's crackdown on leftist guerrillas in the late '70s, the so-called dirty war, in which at least 6,000 people disappeared. The final blunder, however, was Argentina's ill-fated 1982 seizure and subsequent loss of the British-held Falkland Islands. In February the military junta of President Reynaldo Bignone announced plans to return the government to civilian hands.

Luder's toughest task will be to persuade the Peronists' sizable right-wing factions to adopt his platform of progressive reform. For decades, Peronism has stood for very little beyond keeping the military strong, the President all-powerful and the economy state-controlled. Luder, a former constitutional-law professor, hopes instead to forge an image of moderate pragmatism. Thus far, his economic policies amount to vague endorsements of price controls and increased exports. After his nomination, he said, more concretely: "The armed forces will be subordinated to political power and be assigned their specific function, the defense of the country."

Such notions offend traditionalists in the party, as have the efforts of Luder and other moderates to undermine the influence of Isabelita Peron. When right-wing traditionalists stalled the convention with calls for her return to lead the party, moderate leaders apparently persuaded her to remain in Spain. "We look to a future shorn of mysticism, avoiding personality," says Sociologist Jose Miguens, one of Luder's strategists. "Argentina wants to learn and to decide on tough issues. The country has had enough of theatrics."

While the Peronists have been bickering, the Radicals, under their jocular leader Raul Alfonsin, have been successfully campaigning for the past year among Argentina's staunch urban middle class, which has always opposed the Peronists. Moreover, Alfonsin's call for a government built on West European social-democratic lines is finding supporters even among the blue-collar workers on whom the Peronists depend. After nearly 40 years of easy wins, the Peronists can no longer take victory for granted. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.