Weekly Report - 23 August 2007 (ISSN 1741-7422)

Former president Carlos Menem suffered a decisive defeat in the provincial elections in La Rioja, his former powerbase, on 19 August. Menem had hoped to use the La Rioja elections as a springboard to the presidency in October for the "PJ no K" grouping of dissident Peronists but his performance will have put paid to that. Victory went to Luis Beder Herrera, nominally a Kirchnerista. There was no surprise in the other provincial elections, in San Luis, which went to a prominent opponent of President Néstor Kirchner, Alberto Rodrí­guez Saá.