In a national election day that mobilised thousands of members, the official 'Germán Abdala' list won with 93% of the votes, re-electing Hugo Godoy as Secretary General of the CTA Autónoma for another four years. With a 40% turnout from over 1.3 million affiliates, the election took place amidst strong austerity measures and criticism from the opposition, which denounced anti-democratic practices.

Landslide Victory for the Official List

On Thursday, August 20, 2026, national elections for the CTA Autónoma (Autonomous Confederation of Workers of Argentina) took place across the country. With a turnout of 40% of the registered voters (a total of 1,353,293 members), the official list 'Germán Abdala' secured 93% of the votes, consolidating the re-election of Hugo 'Cachorro' Godoy as Secretary General.

He is joined in leadership by Mariana Mandakovic and Pablo Spataro. In total, 30,962 positions were elected across 277 executive committees at provincial, regional, and local levels.

At the celebrations held at the national headquarters of the CTA (Buenos Aires), Godoy highlighted the mobilisation and the 'freedom and union democracy' as a historic banner. He emphasised that the organisation must 'continue working to bring together the entire working class to organise, fight, and build new unions'. He also stressed that, 30 years after its founding, the Central remains 'standing' thanks to the participation of its members.

Opposition Denounces a 'Hollow' Process

The List 6 Multicolor, led by Laura Carboni (candidate for Secretary General), denounced in the days prior that the election had 'hollow and anti-democratic characteristics', citing lack of published voting circuits, unexhibited electoral rolls, and an imprecise number of ballots. From that space, which brings together anti-bureaucratic sectors such as the PTS (Workers' Socialist Party), they called for mobilising poll watchers to guarantee the opposition's voting.

In Jujuy, the Multicolor presented its own candidates, such as Mariano Soria (a Ledesma worker) for Secretary General, in contrast to the official list which includes leaders from ATE and SOEAIL. The central criticism points to the CTA having become a 'collateral of the PJ (Justicialist Party)' and 'subsumed into the traditional CGT union model'.

Context of Austerity and Mobilisation

The election takes place amidst strong social conflict over the austerity policies of Javier Milei's government. According to union sources, more than 300,000 jobs have been lost during his tenure. The CTA and the CGT (General Confederation of Labour) held a march to the Ministry of Economy on the same day as the elections to protest against household indebtedness.

In Puerto Madryn, the local list led by Gastón Medina ran as the only proposal, and Medina highlighted the importance of union democracy. The new local leadership will take office in October.

The CTA Autónoma, founded in 1992, defines itself as a central independent of political parties, although in practice it has had ties with Peronism. This election reaffirms the continuity of the current leadership in a scenario of dispute over the direction of the union movement.

Source: imago.com.ar