By Michael Soltys.

The sharp electoral rebuff handed out to the presidential couple last weekend (even in the native provinces of both) should have its consequences and the message of the ballot-boxes should be heeded and not grandly ignored as President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner seems to be doing but the worst thing anybody could do would be to indulge in the frequent national vice of hitting a man (or even woman) when down and start asking when CFK will go the way of Fernando de la Rúa (who at least lasted 10 days beyond the midpoint of his term, which still lies 158 days away for Mrs Kirchner). Instead of undermining a severely weakened administration, the government should be constructively engaged and made part of the solution instead of most of the problem as in recent years.

Towards this end an agreement between the various socio-economic sectors would be far more important than any possible Cabinet change - even though it goes without saying that no dialogue can even leave the ground if the various savage interventionists in government ranks headed by Domestic Trade Secretary Guillermo Moreno stay in office and unless the Economy Ministry is headed by somebody who can offer rather more than the passive accountancy of Carlos Fernández. Equally it goes without saying that future economic policy will have to be designed on the basis of reliable data via an overhaul of the INDEC statistics bureau hijacked by Moreno and the Cabinet purge may have to include the more discreet but shady Federal Planning Minister Julio De Vido in order to restore transparency.

Yet such dialogue is no guarantee of a solution even if it avoids the corporativist spirit of the Socio-Economic Council envisaged by the government and even if opposition politicians are included in the process (as they clearly should be after Sunday's electoral verdict). Business lobbies will be doing the entire nation a favour if they exploit the government's new vulnerability to force down the tax burden and public spending even if it is debatable whether recovering a genuine fiscal surplus or anti-cyclical policies against the recession are the greater priority - the need to end the demonization of agriculture is even more indisputable. Yet the lobbies would be doing harm if they used their increased bargaining-power to drive home an exaggerated devaluation as a form of disguised protection, not to mention even more overtly protectionist moves. The government remains essential for striking the balance - paradoxically, it is more important in its new weakness than throughout its omnipotence.