Argentina is a nation that, for its potential, should be able to shine as its name: the “Silver Nation.” Yet as the elections this Sunday will prove, the country is stuck in the slime of a corrupt political culture: Peronism.

According to the most recent polls, approximately 60% of the votes of the first round of the presidential election will go to the two candidates aligned with the Justicialista Party, founded by General Juan Domingo Peron (1895-1974). Around 30% of the votes will go to Cambiemos, a coalition that would, in the United States, be considered centrist with a tilt to the left in social values and to the right in economics. Its leader, Mauricio Macri, who has been governing the city of Buenos Aires, recently paid tribute to Peron’s memory while attending the unveiling of a statue in his honor.

The story goes that a foreign journalist interviewed President Peron during the peak of his first “democratic dictatorship” (1946-1955). He asked Peron to describe the Argentine political scene. In his affable and convincing tone, the president answered: “Close to forty percent are conservatives, then we have the radicals, near thirty percent, they are a centrist party founded in 1890, we also have the socialists, also moderate, around ten percent, we also have some Christian Democrats and some Liberals …” the journalist interrupted, “Excuse me Mr. President, aren’t you forgetting the Peronists?” “Peronists? They are All Peronists!” the president quipped wittingly.

Read the article “70 Years Later, Peron’s Legacy Still Reigns in Argentina — Cronyism and Corruption” on forbes.com.