The Union for the Homeland (Spanish: Unión por la Patria, UP) is a political and electoral coalition of Peronist political parties in Argentina who are the main opposition coalition since December 2023.
In the run-up to the 2019 presidential election, the Kirchnerist faction of the Justicialist Party arranged for the establishment of a common Peronist electoral front. This project ultimately materialized with the formation of the Frente de Todos coalition, which comprised the Justicialist majority along with a number of other parties of the political left and centre. This alliance was itself a successor to both the short-lived Citizen's Unity bloc formed for the 2017 midterm elections as well as the Front for Victory, which served as the political instrument of the Kirchnerist political camp between 2003 and 2017. The alliance presented Alberto Fernández as its sole candidate in the 2019 presidential primaries, in which he secured just under 48% of the vote. In the subsequent general election, Fernández again garnered 48% of the vote, against the 40% of incumbent president Mauricio Macri of the Juntos por el Cambio coalition, ousting the sitting administration and returning the Peronists to power after four years in the opposition.[22] Fernández, along with his vice president, the former President of ArgentinaCristina Fernández de Kirchner, went on to govern the country for the ensuing four-year period. Halfway through this term, the Frente de Todos coalition suffered a significant defeat in the 2021 Argentine legislative election, losing seats in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, and thereby losing control of Congress for the first time in nearly 40 years.[23]
In April 2023, President Alberto Fernandez announced that he would not seek re-election in the next presidential election.[24] In the primary elections on August of that year, Sergio Massa defeated Juan Grabois by a margin of nearly 16 percentage points, although it became the worst result for a ruling Peronist coalition since the PASO was first implemented in 2009.[21]
In the runoff in November 2023, Libertarian candidate Javier Milei defeated Massa in the second round with 55.65% of the vote, the highest percentage since Argentina's transition to democracy. Massa conceded defeat shortly before the official results were published.[25][26]
^ abcdIglesias Seifert, Demian (18 August 2023). "Has Right-Wing Populism Reached Argentina?". Verfassungsblog: On Matters Constitutional (342): 1. doi:10.17176/20230818-182853-0. The candidates in the main opposition coalition, United for Change (a conservative centre-right movement), obtained 28% and the current governing coalition Union for the Homeland (Peronist, centre left coalition) 27% of the votes, respectively.
^ abMoore, Dominic (14 August 2023). "Trump-Supporting Libertarian Outsider Scores Shock Win in Argentina's Presidential Primary". Spangld. Voters punished Union for the Homeland (Unión por la Patria, UP), the ruling left-wing populist coalition of President Alberto Fernández, who has presided over a crushing cost-of-living crisis that's left 40% of Argentines in poverty amid 116% inflation.
^ abcJütten, Marc (27 November 2023). "Argentina: Outcome of the 2023 elections – Beginning of a new era?"(PDF). At a Glance. European Parliament: 1. The big losers in the primaries were the Peronists, the ruling centre-left 'Union for the Homeland' (Union por la Patria/UP), who gained just 27.3 % of the votes – a historically bad result (compared to 47 % in 2019).
^ abElman, Juan (9 August 2023). "Young people's anger fuels far-right populist as Argentina's election nears". openDemocracy. Unlike in past years, when political alliances had no real internal competition, this time there are battles for the nominations of the two main groupings: Union for the Homeland, the Peronist centre-left alliance that is currently in government, and Together for Change, the centre-right opposition alliance founded by former president Mauricio Macri.
^ abAlcoba, Natalie (15 August 2023). "Argentina primary results reflect frustrations, desire for change: Experts". Al Jazeera. The traditional right-of-centre coalition Juntos por el Cambio (Together for Change) earned 28 percent of the vote in the primaries, while the ruling centre-left Peronist coalition, known as Union por la Patria (Union for the Homeland), clinched 27 percent.
^Mauri, Odile Gaset. "La Argentina camino al Balotaje 2023"(PDF). Public and Corporate Solutions LATAM.«El actual oficialismo es una versión más clásica del peronismo catch-all. y se presenta en estas elecciones encabezado por el actual ministro de Economía Sergio Massa, bajo el rótulo de Unión por la Patria, llevando unidas a tres grandes corrientes peronistas: el kirchnerismo, el massismo y el peronismo más tradicional del interior del país, encarnado en los gobernadores y las organizaciones gremiales. »
^ abLake, Tom (August 2023). "MNI POLITICAL RISK ANALYSIS-Argentina PASO Preview"(PDF). Political Risk (55245). London: 2. Union for the Homeland – Unión por la Patria – UP – Peronist, centre-left/left-wing – Founded: 2023 – Chamber of Deputies: 118/257 – Senate: 31/72.
^Ansaldi, Waldo. "Si ven el futuro, díganle que no venga"(PDF). Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México: 30.«Invirtiendo las posiciones, la fórmula Sergio Massa-Agustín Rossi (UxP, centro) obtuvo 36.7% contra Javier Milei-Victoria Villarruel (LLA, extrema derecha), 30%, y Patricia Bullrich Luro Pueyrredón-Luis Petri (JxC, derecha, ahora virando a la extrema), 23.8%. »