There are 100 days remaining for the Open, Simultaneous and Mandatory Primary elections (PASO) that will define the candidates who will compete in October for the mayor of La Plata and There are already at least 21 names in the dance in the race to unseat Mayor Julio Garro, who on the other hand will go in search of his second re-election. What are the ones that have already been launched? And who are those who seek to position themselves in the midst of the uncertainty that reigns? Both in Together for Change, which has not yet defined its strategy, nor if there will be a single candidate or there will be an internal struggle, as well as in the Frente de Todos, in La Libertad Avanza and in the Front of the Left, anything can happen from now until the closing of the list scheduled for June 24.
PRO
The first noted in the ruling party is the mayor himself Julio tentaclewho will go for his third term as permitted by the amendment to the re-election law approved at the end of 2021. He has governed the city since 2015 for the PRO and is finishing his second term. Although he launched his own army with provincial projection together with his partner from Lanús, Nestor Grindettifinally he chose to run again in La Plata.
“If the people of La Plata want me to present myself again, I will do it, I am very grateful because the people of La Plata gave me the chance to be mayor in 2015, they gave me the chance to be mayor again in 2019, so the truth is that I already fulfilled my dream, and I say it as a human being. I carry this city in my soul, I feel it as my home, and if I have to put my body in and keep fighting, I will do it,” he said on that occasion. At the national level, he is an ally of the Buenos Aires head of government, Horacio Rodríguez Larretaand supports his presidential candidacy.
In the local PRO there are four leaders who want to compete against the mayor and who refer to the former Minister of National Security and pre-candidate for the presidency, Patricia Bullrich. Its about Secretary of Special Projects of the municipality, Mauro Palummo; Senator Juan Pablo Allan; former councilor Julio Irurueta and provincial deputy Daniel Lipovetzky.
Palummo has been part of Julio Garro’s cabinet as secretary since 2019 and It is sold as the “only and direct reference” of Bullrich in La Plata, although the minister has not yet ratified him as the chosen one. He has already released several of his campaign proposals that generated controversy: One is to eliminate the Secretary for Victim Assistance and Gender Policies and all feminist ideology. “No more gender ideology or feminism. I am in favor of the original design,” she launched, and also proposed dividing Plaza Italia “to order traffic.” The team is led by the former Secretary of Social Control, Roberto Di Grazia, and Hugo Vidalrepresentative of unite party in La Plata, led by the national deputy Alberto Asseff.
He former councilor of the PRO, Julio Irurueta, who currently works as director of Budget Execution of the municipality, launched into the race for the mayor’s office in mid-March. The leader assures that the time has come to deepen the change that began in 2015 when Julio Garro took office. Days ago he introduced his campaign manager, councilor Carla Fernández, who is president of the Treasury, Budget and Accounts commission of the La Plata Deliberative Council.
He provincial senator Juan Pablo Allan He is another of those noted in the race for the mayor who bids to represent Bullrich. He is the only one of the pre-candidates who It is not part of the “official political table” that was formed in mid-March nor does he participate in the local Juntos table headed by Mayor Garro and who has been meeting weekly.
To compete, Allan launched the “order team” with which he will seek to fight if there are finally inmates in the PRO at the local level. This team is made up of the councilors of Juntos, Romina Cayon, Romina Marascio y Maria Belen Munozthe ex-prosecutor from La Plata Marcelo Romero and the leader of the Vecinalista party and former mayoral candidate, gerardo jasminewho will be his campaign manager.
He Provincial Deputy Daniel Lipovetzky He was one of the first to launch into the race. Under the slogan “Wake up La Plata” he has been campaigning since May of last year, distributing flyers throughout the city. He says that there is a lack of “control and order” in the city and that the main problem is insecurity. He is part of Bullrich’s “political table” in La Plata. His term in the Buenos Aires Chamber of Deputies, which he reached through the seventh section and not through La Plata, ends in December.
Days ago he asked “stop talking about candidacies for 30 days” within Juntos and is in favor of the unit in tune with the mayor Julio Garro. The legislator has been participating in the local Juntos table headed by the communal chief and is “more conciliatory”, unlike his rivals within the space of the PRO president.
UCR
In the radical ranks there are also several annotated. The centenary party is awaiting the national definitions that will arrive at the National Convention on June 12 and has not yet defined whether it will go with its own candidate to the electoral contest with Together for Change or not. At the municipal level there are already several annotated: the former deputy Sergio Panella, the scribe and teacher Barbara Drake and the doctor Claudio Perez Irigoyen.
Panella competed in the internal elections of the UCR of La Plata last year and lost against the leader of Evolución Radical, Paul Nicoletti. He was a candidate for mayor on two occasions and led the Central Board between 2008 and 2010.
Drake She is a notary public and a teacher and was Panella’s running mate in the radical internships held in November last year. In the 2021 elections, the leader was a candidate for deputy for the Eighth section.
Perez Irigoyen He is a surgeon and was a councilor between 1991 and 1995. He was a candidate for mayor for radicalism in 2015.
NEIGHBORHOODISM
The grouping “Neighbors United”meanwhile, postulates the notary public and former director of the Puerto La Plata Consortium, Mariano Penas. In the last elections, the space supported the list of Together for Change.
IN FRONT OF EVERYONE
In Peronism, which has not yet defined the national strategy, there are also a multitude of pre-candidates waiting for the definitions to arrive. The one that has been campaigning in the neighborhoods, although it has not yet been launched, is July Wine. The Buenos Aires Minister of Justice and Human Rights has been leading events in squares and clubs since February with the excuse of gathering votes for the re-election of Axel Kicillof. He was mayor for four periods and many see him as the organizer of the Frente de Todos at the local level.
In addition, there are four councilors listed. One is Guillermo “Nano” Carawho ends his second term and is referred to with Axel Kicillof and with the ministers javier rodriguez (Agrarian Development) and Estela Diaz (Women). The other one that has already launched into the race is William Escudero, former provincial deputy referenced with bruerismo who has a mandate until 2025 in the Council. The former judge and mayor also began to campaign Luis Ariaswho was already a candidate in 2019.
The list is completed by the councilor and regional head of ANSES, Paula Lambertini, who has been campaigning since last year. The mayor belongs to the Peronist group “Buenos Aires Unida”, which also includes Lorena Riesgo, undersecretary for Sociocultural Promotion of the province, and Santiago Martorelli, former head of the Pablo Bruera administration’s Cabinet.
Another Peronist who signs up for a great PASO is Gaston Castagneto, current provincial director of the province’s School Food System, which is under the orbit of the Minister of Community Development, Andrés Larroque, and who manages the funds that are sent to school canteens throughout the province. Gastón is the son of the head of the AFIP, Carlos Castagnetoand the former councilor Ana Herran. He is also the president of the Kolina Buenos Aires party.
For him Renovator Front, There are two leaders who are in the dance of names: it is the head of the National Transport Regulation Commission (CNRT) and former councilor, Jose Arteagaand the provincial deputy John Martin “Tachu” Malpelli.
LIBERTARIANS
La Libertad Avanza, the party of Javier Miley, works in a local assembly to compete for the mayorship and in search of getting a seat in the Deliberative Council. Although her original bet was the Interior, the national deputy Caroline Piparo finally announced this week that he will compete for the municipal seat. The leader she was secretary of Attention to the Victim and Gender of the Garro government until 2021, when she left the ranks of Cambiemos to jump to the party of José Luis Espert. The criminal lawyer Marcelo Penawho was already a candidate for mayor in 2019 with the party of José Gómez Centurión, will compete with him internally.
LEFT
In the Left Front (FIT), the pre-candidates already launched are the teacher leader Daniel Rapanelli of the Partido Obrero (PO) and the delegate of ATE in IOMA, Luana Simionifor the Socialist Workers Party (PTS).
The New Movement Toward Socialism (MAS), for its part, will lead as a pre-candidate the philosopher and leader of SUTEBA Multicolor, Eric Simonetti.
