The PASO in the province of Buenos Aires, the great unknown
Due to electoral volume and political weight, the Buenos Aires territory has a dynamic with impact at the national level. Hence, a good part of the eyes are focused during these hours on what will decide Axel Kicillof regarding two mutually intertwined aspects: primaries and splitting.
The district did not even disengage from the elections in 2023 and, along with Catamarca and Entre Ríos, voted closely with the presidential vote. Now, in La Plata they are balancing while waiting for decisions from Congress. On the one hand, the tandem Cristina Kirchner and Sergio Massa pressures so that the governor does not cancel the elections and that PBA reflects the scenario throughout the country.
On the contrary, Kicillof and the PJ mayors see the opposite proposal more favorably: set your own election date and fight a provincial battle with the opposition. In the PRO and La Libertad Avanza (LLA) camps they flirt with the idea of a great front to compete with Peronism.
However, prisoner of the unprecedented internment with Cristina, the governor moves with a lead foot. QFirst, wait to know what will happen with the national PASO. Those around him say that, if suspended or repealed, the former Minister of Economy would follow that path, which would open the door to a split.
The cost could be the emergence of a new front within the government coalition. His administration comes from feeling the rigor after not achieving approvalbar the 2025 Budget or the Debt Law.
It should be remembered that the Province does not have the Single Paper Ballot system that will be used in legislative elections, so, if there are no changes, voting would be done in different formats. Unión por la Patria (UP) will put into play 19 of the 46 provincial deputies that will be renewed in the Legislature and 10 of the 23 seats in the Buenos Aires Senate.
This Friday, the Minister of Government and Kicillof’s right-hand man, Carlos Biancoconfirmed that they are waiting for “the national scenario to be defined so that the Governor can make the decision he has to make.” Regarding the split, he admitted that “It is a possibility that will depend on how the national electoral scenario is configured, on how that is replicated in the province because we have our own STEP by law.”
Mendoza: STEP to order and approach with Milei
MendozaMeanwhile, he is heading to carry out the provincial STEP. The head of the Radical Civic Union (UCR) in the district and president of the Chamber of Deputies, Andres Lomardiconfirmed that there will be primaries this year. ““That is a decision made because we understand that they are a valuable instrument to improve the electoral offer,” said the white beret leader, contrary to what Nación proposes.
Lombardi considered that the PASO “allows the people to decide who the candidates are.” “Before it was by hand, they were chosen by the ‘caste’. the same policy”, evaluated. Specifically, the governor Alfredo Cornejo He sees the libertarian advance with concern. Although he presents himself as one of the leaders closest to Milei, he wants to occupy the centrality in the small payment. Orbiting around him are the PRO and LLA, which managed to order a tough internal party and become official as a party under the ownership of deputy Facundo Correa Llano.
Javier Milei and Omar de Marchi (1).jpg
In the province, the yellow ones are part of Change Mendozathe government coalition, although they work in tandem with the milleistas through the intermediation of the vice president of Aerolíneas Argentinas, Omar de Marchiwho broke with the space founded by Mauricio Macri and founded The Mendoza Union (LUM).
With the provincial map configured in this way, the governor sees the primaries as a tool to organize his troops and have veto power. Within the district and in the ranks of the UCR, there is also the Minister of Defense, Luis Petriwith aspirations to command Mendoza in the future. There are, in short, too many names for the same electorate.
Another question in Cuyo lands is whether the elections will be linked to the national elections or not. In the opposition they are considering the thesis that an eventual split would not mean that Cornejo wants to fight with Milei. On the contrary, they believe that the radical leader could cede the national candidates to the President in exchange for the LLA deciding not to interfere in the local elections.
The governor has already opened the door to an alliance with the libertarians. “There is a communion, a hard core of coincidences. I wouldn’t rule out that we could go together,” commented in mid-December.
Without STEP or unfolding in Catamarca?
Different situation occurs in Catamarcawhere splitting is no longer an option, given that the legal deadlines have been exhausted. The future of the PASO, on the other hand, is unknown. The administration of Raul Jalil He is excited about being able to suspend them. According to numbers in the province, 63% of Catamarca residents would agree with leaving them without effect.
“It seems to them an unnecessary expense, which does not contribute to the electoral process itself,” northern sources commented. Jalil has already raised his desire to discontinue the primaries on different occasions. The governor is one of the Peronists who had the best relationship with Javier Milei in the UP orbit. However, in the small payment, he shares the centrality with the senator and former local president Lucia Corpacciwith good ties with the head of the PJ, Cristina Kirchner.
Lucia Corpacci.jpeg
On the contrary, the also Peronist Gustavo Saadi, mayor of San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca, presses so that the PASO are not suspended. Saadi considered that, if the suppression advances, we could “return to a system where four or five people from a party chose who were going to be the candidates.”
“So many elections can be annoying, I think the same, but I also think that the representation of those candidates who are not visible to the party authorities will be affected”said the mayor, who aspires to succeed Jalil, without the possibility of re-election in 2027.
This year’s national legislative elections will renew half the Chamber of Deputies and a third of the Senate. In mirror image, there will be local elections in the City of Buenos Aires, the province of Buenos Aires, San Luis, Misiones, Corrientes, Chaco, Formosa, Salta, La Rioja, Catamarca, Mendoza and Jujuy will renew half of their legislatures.
Source: Ambito
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