The election year started with a radical victory

The winner, Martín Berhongaray, on a litter after being declared the winner. Martin Lousteau applauds/telam

The first electoral test of the year was staged in La Pampa with the completion of a STEP in which the Juntos por el Cambio intern took all eyes: finally there was a victory for the radical Martín Berhongaray who defeated the PRO candidate, Martín Maquieyra, and, in this way, on May 14, he will try to unseat the Peronist Sergio Ziliotto from the provincial government.

They were very particular elections: as they were not mandatory for the parties or fronts that will present a single list in the general elections, such as the Pampean Justicialismo, there was little participation. The extreme heat that affected the central zone of the country did not help either and, in this way, only 10 percent of a register of 238,000 people paid.

They were elections that had been “nationalized” in recent weeks due to the parade through Santa Rosa of leaders of the opposition armed forces, such as Mauricio Macri, Patricia Bullrich or Gerardo Morales (last night he sent his campaign manager, Guillermo “Willy” Hoerth, to the winning bunker ). It is that the UCR, which is strong in many provinces, tries to contain the influence of the PRO in the assembly of the national strategy towards the next presidential elections. Last night, at least, the first triumphant photo of an electoral year was secured in which the map of power in Argentina will change.

EARLY TREND

At the close of this edition, the radical deputy, referenced in the leader of Evolución, Martín Lousteau, beat his PRO pair by 56.72% to 43.28%.

But around 8:00 p.m. there was already a definite trend and that is why Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, the first to campaign in La Pampa along with Maquieyra, came out to congratulate Berhongaray and also his own candidate. “Maquieyra showed that with commitment and a lot of work, the first step can be taken to build change. Now to work together to transform the province!”.

Meanwhile, the winner of the internship came out to celebrate the victory in moderation and in a first contact with the local press he assured that “we assume that this is the first step towards the great challenge we have for May. The accompaniment of the militancy and the people throughout the process is comforting as a result of a work with great seriousness and rectitude in these years that was reflected in the various pampean localities”.

A few hours before, Senator Lousteau and Deputy Emiliano Yacobitti, both leaders of Evolución, traveled to La Pampa and towards sunset they shared a photo together of the winner of the local PASO. “Berhongaray is a candidate for governor for these times, without marketing, honest, with knowledge of a lot of technical issues and who knows his province as few candidates can say they know it,” said the current candidate for head of government. porteño.

The truth is that yesterday the UCR candidate prevailed in cities like Santa Rosa, Eduardo Castex and other towns in the interior, but Maquieyra won in the north of the province, like Realicó and by a narrow margin, in General Pico, the second city in importance of the province.

In this way, the current radical deputy will face off on May 14 with the current provincial leader, Ziliotto, who managed to unify most of the provincial Peronism in a single list.

However, there are doubts about what the Justicialismo sector referenced in the former governor Carlos Verna will do in the general elections, who, in Casa Rosada, was accused of not having “played” for the ruling party in the 2021 legislatures where there was a clear triumph of PvC in that district.

“This election has transcended the borders of La Pampa. It is very important for radicalism at the national level and above all to fire a shot for elevation: the importance and the need for this party to be in the foreground, to have a leading role within the coalition and national politics,” he added. Berhongaray before entering the UCR Province Committee for the festivities.

Maquieyra even approached the radical headquarters to express his support for the winners and advance the accompaniment for the general elections on May 14.

On May 14, he will face the current president Ziliotto, who managed to unify the PJ

“I want to congratulate Martín Berhongaray, the radical party and Together for Change. It was a very interesting primary that just consecrated the best candidate. The citizens said so. La Pampa has a luxury candidate, with a lot of conviction and character. In Congress we work together and you can see the rigor and seriousness of their work,” said the radical senator through a press release.

The central expectation of yesterday’s election was placed on the dispute over the formula for the governorship of Together for Change, since in the governing Peronism there was a consensus to nominate Governor Sergio Ziliotto for re-election.

The other formulas go directly to the general election on May 14, in addition to the Pampean Justicialista Front: the Left Front and Workers-Unity, postulates the leader of ATE Luciano González with Sofía Mercedes Fernández.

Likewise, Desde el Pie postulates the provincial health official Claudio Alejandro Acosta with María Laura González; the Pampas Federalist Movement to former provincial deputy Héctor Fazzini with Sonia Analía Wisner; and Organized Community to the former mayor of Santa Rosa Juan Carlos Tierno, dismissed after 87 days in March 2008 and later sentenced to two years in prison suspended for abuse of authority.