All eyes in Argentina are on Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. The vice president has dropped out of the race for head of state, but even so, Peronism awaits her last word before the start of an electoral campaign in which she will face two great rivals: the center-right coalition Together for Change and to the ultraliberal Javier Milei. There are less than two weeks left before the closing of the lists and the internal differences make impatience and nervousness grow due to the lack of a defined strategy. With more than 70% of a negative image, the president, Alberto Fernández, resigned to run for re-election by the ruling Frente de Todos (FdT). Even so, he retains enough power not to give in to those who pressure him to impose a single candidacy that prevents the FdT leadership from being settled in the primaries on August 13. The candidates who will contest the presidential elections at the end of October will appear there.
The Peronist governors, a key piece of territorial power in the provinces, requested a federal unity list last Wednesday. “We cannot divert efforts into sterile discussions that only lead to divisions,” warned the thirteen provincial leaders of the FdT meeting in the Federal Investment Council in a document. The message reinforced the desire expressed earlier by Kirchner’s entourage and by the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa.
Neither the president nor the candidate closest to him, Daniel Scioli, took notice. In response, Scioli released an election spot in which he looks back on his past as motorboat world champion to highlight his driving ability in difficult conditions. “Today our country is exactly like this, navigating in a rough and dangerous seaand the way is to face, advance and win”, says the Argentine ambassador in Brazil in the propaganda, in which he is shown next to Néstor Kirchner when they took office as president and vice president in 2003.
Scioli’s claims drive Massa crazy, leader of one of the three currents that coexist in the FdT. His presidential aspirations are tied to his managing to keep the country’s difficult economic situation at bay, with record inflation in three decades and a shortage of foreign currency due to the historical drought of the last agricultural season. Any internal dispute takes energy away from concentrating on that objective and will possibly be punished at the polls.
“He is fed up,” warned the president of the Chamber of Deputies, the massista Cecilia Moreau, a few days ago. Over the weekend, however, Massa was willing to put up a fight. “The best thing for Argentina and for the FdT is unity, but if it is decided that there is a STEP [primarias abiertas simultáneas y obligatorias], write us down We are going to be doing our best and looking for the best agreements”, Massa assured at the closing of the Frente Renovador congress.
The Chief of Staff, Agustín Rossi, is another of the candidates to compete in the Peronist primaries. This weekend he anticipated that he will only withdraw his candidacy if he lags behind in the polls. Therein lies the problem of the Frente de Todos: none of the names being considered measure more than 20 points individually. “There is no one who can concentrate the expectations of the majority of the group,” Rossi declared when showing himself in favor of the FdT candidate being defined in primaries.
It remains for Kirchner to show his cards. The player with the greatest political weight in Peronism was the architect of the presidential candidacy of Alberto Fernández four years ago with which the FdT defeated Mauricio Macri. But already in the Government, the relationship between Kirchner and Fernández deteriorated to the point of stopping talking. The Kirchner environment has nominated the Minister of the Interior, Wado de Pedro, as a candidate, without specifying in that case who would be his running mate. The final decision will be known this week, or next week at the latest.
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