In the midst of a leadership crisis, the PJ takes a truce before defining the electoral strategy – GENTE Online

The meeting of the National Council of the Justicialista Party (PJ) was almost like an express procedure. Everyone expected something more after the resignation of Alberto Fernandez to the possibility of being a candidate to seek re-election, but there was only one date, one time and one place: May 16 at 2:00 p.m. in the micro-stadium of the Ferro Carril Oeste club from Buenos Aires. Those are the coordinates for the party Congress to come together to define how it will face the elections.

The president arrived at 6:15 p.m. at the PJ headquarters, located at 130 Matheu street in the Balvanera neighborhood of Buenos Aires, without making any statements and left in the same way just over half an hour later. The only one who spoke was him. He first made a brief summary of the video that he posted in the morning on his Twitter account to communicate that he will not be a candidate in this year’s presidential elections and then launched the call for the party Congress on the Ferro field.

The governor of the province of Buenos Aires, Axel Kicillofwas in charge of announcing the date and place of the party congress to the media that were waiting outside the building. “It was a very good meeting to comply with the legal requirements of the party and advance in the electoral reorganization”he explained during an impromptu conference.

“Very good, short, simple”This is how the Cabinet chief described the closed meeting, Augustine Rossi. In addition, he said that the presence of Fernández “consolidates its role as guarantor of PASO without aggression and with equal competition”.

What will happen next May 16 at 2:00 p.m. in Ferro will be another formal step: the congressmen will decide to integrate an electoral front to participate in the elections and they will work on a brief regulation for participation in the primaries. “It is not defined if there is a single list or several, that will be seen later”Rossi clarified.

To the General Secretary of the Suterh Building Managers Guild, Victor Santa Mariain the party congress will continue “with the elaboration of an electoral strategy, but we cannot have a clear definition without debating this point with our indisputable leader, who is Cristina Kirchner”.

On the other hand, the national deputy Eduardo Valdés recalled that “There was a very good internship for Peronism like the one in ’88 with (Antonio) Cafiero and (Carlos) Menem, and there were others that were not virtuous at all, like those in 2015 between Aníbal Fernández and (Julián) Domínguez” and in that sense he asked “Be very careful with the PASS because they can be very damaging to the front”.

The keys you have to know

• There are almost two months to go before the deadline to submit the lists of pre-candidates who will participate in the PASO.
• Alberto Fernández’s decision not to go in search of his re-election served to decompress the internal pressure that exists in the Frente de Todos, whose backbone continues to be the PJ.
• In the environment of the president they assure that now Fernández “will be in charge of the PASO and the electoral assembly.”
• From different sectors of the FdT they were pressing for Fernández to drop his candidacy, especially from the hardest wing of Kirchnerism.

“I have to concentrate my effort, my commitment and my heart on solving the problems of the Argentines.”

Alberto Fernández in a video broadcast yesterday morning on networks, entitled “My decision”.

The announcement changed the framework of the formal meeting of the Party Council, which was held mixed with the majority of its 75 members, with a single mission: to set the date of the next party congress.

The conclave, on the first floor of the party headquarters, was attended by the first vice president of the PJ Cristina Álvarez Rodríguez; the Chief of Staff, Agustín Rossi; the Buenos Aires governor Axel Kicillof; Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero; and the ministers Eduardo De Pedro (Interior), Victoria Tolosa Paz (Social Development), Raquel ‘Kelly’ Olmos (Labor) and Jorge Taiana (Defense).

Also in attendance were the Secretary General of the Presidency, Julio Vitobello; Valdés himself; the mayor of La Matanza, Fernando Espinoza; the referent of the Evita Movement Fernando Navarro; and union members Andrés Rodríguez (UPCN), Víctor Santa María (Suterh) and Hugo Yasky (CTA); among others.

According to the organizers, the governors Raúl Jalil (Catamarca) and Ricardo Quintela (La Rioja) and the lieutenant governors Analía Rach Quiroga (Chaco) and Verónica Magario (Buenos Aires) also attended by Zoom; the triumvir of the CGT Héctor Daer, the general secretary of SMATA, Ricardo Pignanelli; the Buenos Aires legislator and general secretary of La Cámpora, Lucía Cámpora; the deputy and historical leader José Luis Gioja; and the mayors María Emilia Soria (General Roca) and Walter Vuoto (Ushuaia); among others.