Ritondo with the leader of Magdalena, Martín Villena / Twitter
The possibility that radicalism and the PRO share formulas both nationally and in Buenos Aires appears in the menu of alternatives that Juntos por el Cambio manages in the face of next year’s electoral assembly.
The internship unleashed in the PRO between Horacio Rodríguez Larreta and Patricia Bullrich, added to the fact that radicalism threatens to compete with Facundo Manes or Gerardo Morales, seems to put up a bulky wall to that alternative that is being talked about in the opposition coalition. However, stealthily, some pieces begin to move “from below”, with the epicenter in the strategic territory of Buenos Aires.
The essay has as protagonists the national deputy of the PRO Cristian Ritondo and leaders of radicalism that answer to the national senator Martín Lousteau. The symbiosis, a priori, seemed unthinkable, but it is taking shape with some discreet actions in various districts.
Ritondo intends to be a candidate for Buenos Aires governor. Although he responds to the scheme of María Eugenia Vidal, he maintains a very good dialogue with Mauricio Macri. There are those who believe in the PRO that, if the internship between Larreta and Bullrich is confirmed, he could end up being the candidate for the Province of the former Minister of Security.
Lousteau, for his part, will be a candidate for Buenos Aires head of government. With a good relationship with Larreta, there was much speculation that the radical was the candidate for the current mayor of Buenos Aires. But that possibility seemed to cool down in tune with the at times ruthless internal that exists in the PRO.
Despite these alignments that a priori seem not very compatible, sectors of Ritondo and Lousteau are working on coincidences in various districts
In the last few hours, several signs have emerged that show this harmony between the national deputy and Radical Evolution, the sector led by Lousteau in the Province.
In Magdalena, for example, Martín Villena, the main leader who answers to the national senator, has already taken a photo with Ritondo. “We have a team that does not stop growing, full of good and prepared people. I have absolute confidence that we will get ahead. Welcome Martin!” The former Buenos Aires Security Minister wrote on his Twitter account. The post was accompanied by a photo of both.
Villena has been facing the mayor Gonzalo Peluso in the radical internship, aligned with Adelante Buenos Aires, the sector led by Maximiliano Abad in the Province.
Another example of that political symbiosis is crystallizing in Ensenada, the homeland of ultra-K mayor Mario Secco. There, they have just launched Marcelo “Octopus” Martínez, a former councilor and environmental leader, as a candidate for mayor. Martínez has the support, among other leaders, of the PRO councilors Fernanda Iveli and Carolina Dil and the president of the PRO Youth “Nacho” Oyarzú. Evolution also bets on that assembly.
In Ensenada, the benchmark for Evolution is Linda Aidar (right hand of the national deputy Danya Tavella) and she has already been coordinating with the Ritondo sector.
The other district in which the agreement seems advanced is Berisso, where Hugo Dagorret, from Evolución, is preparing to launch his candidacy for mayor in agreement with sectors of the PRO led by Ritondo. Dagorret was an employee of former mayor Jorge Nedella and works under the umbrella of Evolución Radical.
The cases of Magdalena, Berisso and Ensenada are the first trials. But in Evolución they anticipate that “we are going to work to extend that idea with crossed formulas to other districts.”
These coincidences represent a cooperation agreement that serves both Ritondo and Lousteau in political terms in their own internships.
For the PRO deputy, it means giving his candidacy muscle, in a race in which he competes with Diego Santilli, sponsored by Rodríguez Larreta and the trio that joins Bullrich, made up of Néstor Grindetti (mayor of Lanús), Joaquín De la Torre ( provincial senator and former mayor of San Miguel) and Javier Iguacel, mayor of Capitán Sarmiento.
In the case of Radical Evolution, the move aims to plant its own candidates in some districts, within the framework of a process of construction in the Province within radicalism.
In some communes there are agreements so that the two sectors go together
