By Veronica Dalto |
Buenos Aires (EFE) due to the economic crisis.
The decision of the former president (2007-2015) leaves her followers helpless, who insisted that she accept to run for a third term. And to the official coalition without the confirmation of any presidential candidate, a few weeks from the limit to present the pre-candidates.
Cristina Fernández announced by surprise that she will not be a candidate for president through a long letter. She where she criticized the opposition, Justice and Argentina’s agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Actually, Fernández had already announced last December that she would not run as a candidate because she affirms that the Justice tries to “outlaw” her after she was sentenced that month in the first instance in a corruption case.
‘Operative Outcry’
“Yesterday’s letter modifies the scenarios,” said the Minister of Community Development of the province of Buenos Aires, Andrés “Cuervo” Larroque, a supporter of Kirchnerism, on AM 750 radio. “We have to find the overall synthesis and We are working on it,” he added.
Peronism was putting together an act on May 25 in the center of Buenos Aires as the scene of the ‘operative outcry’ for Cristina Fernández to present herself as a candidate for president, and its organizers also confirmed that it will take place, despite the letter from the vice president
The mayor of the town of Ensenada, Mario Secco, one of the main promoters of the ‘operative clamor’, considered that Cristina Fernández is the one who runs the space: “On the 25th, Cristina will have to tell us which way to go” because “the only one who You can say a plan B is Cristina ”, he told Futurock radio.
Peronism strategy
What her own followers recognize is that Cristina Fernández is the Peronist candidate with the most votes. But the actions of the vice president reflect the difficulty of winning the elections.
Cristina Fernández is the figure that would win the vote of the so-called hard core of Kirchnerism – between 25 and 30% of the electorate. But the polls show the “high rejection” that he arouses in the rest of the voters that would prevent him from winning the elections.
The former president already recognized the difficulty of winning leading a formula when she chose Alberto Fernández as a candidate for president in 2019 and she ran as vice president.
The electoral move was successful, but in recent times the political tension has been evident between both heads of the Executive, with the vice president launching great criticisms of the Government’s economic policy, as if she were not part of it.
The Argentine economy is going through serious macroeconomic imbalances, with inflation running at 108.8% annually last April. And with a poverty that was 39.9% at the end of 2022. It is strongly conditioned by the shortage of foreign currency, the closure of international debt markets and the fiscal deficit. A 3% drop in GDP is expected this year.
President Alberto Fernández was left in a state of high political weakness, for which he also had to give up seeking re-election, although he toyed with the idea.
Candidates
“Peronism’s strategy now is to think of the candidate who ranks best in the polls and who achieves the greatest amount of internal political consensus,” political consultant Carlos Fara told EFE.
Fara described that “no candidate is a great candidate considering the economic situation.”
In the ruling party, one of the leaders who showed interest in running for president is the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa. He is also the head of the third force of the pro-government coalition, along with Cristina and Alberto Fernández.
Close to Cristina Fernández, the Minister of the Interior, Eduardo “Wado” de Pedro, sought support in the interior of the country to shore up his candidacy. And the social leader Juan Grabois ran from the far left of the space.
Closer to Alberto Fernández, the chief of staff, Agustín Rossi, expressed being “excited” about the possibility of running. And Daniel Scioli, the former vice president (2003-2007) and defeated presidential candidate for Peronism in 2015 has also been demanding his right to compete in the Peronism internal elections.
“Today Sergio Massa achieves more internal consensus,” said Fara, but indicated that “it will be difficult for him to campaign with this economic situation.”
Peronism must also define if it presents a single candidacy, as Massa wants. Or the pre-candidates compete in the open internal elections that will take place next August 13, as the line of President Alberto Fernández seeks.