Alberto Fernandez ended up taking the step that everyone discounted -especially in the internal one- and announced that will not compete for the presidential nomination. Strictly speaking, he did not renounce a re-election plan -which did not exist as such-, but to keep this issue open as a last resort to conserve some space of your own. accepted like this the final liquefaction of his power, an objective worked for a long time by Kirchnerism and a resignation also demanded by the Minister of Economy under the assumption of calming the waters. The consequences exceed Olivos: Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and Sergio Massa they will now openly bear the political and management results.
The President’s decision did not generate surprise due to its content, neither in the official media nor in the opposition. Said more precisely: the renunciation itself was not surprisingbut Yes, the times and forms drew attention. From the circle of Olivos they let it be known that it would be difficult for him to go to battle in the PASO, but he would seek extend the times and negotiate. There are two months left to close the lists and almost eight for the presidential replacement, with the steps of the primaries, the general elections and an eventual runoff.
The way was another. Alberto Fernández hurried the outcome and apparently, it was saved as small satisfaction wake up the minister and the former president with the news.
He sought to show personal resolution and not the consequence of pressures and various adverse factors. “My decision”, titled the video with which he presented the topic in society. A way of deny the most obvious -the combination of internal grinding and the delicate economic situation-, which he accompanied with the reiteration of the discourse on the crisis as an alien fact almost entirely -inheritance, pandemic, war due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, drought- and a small chicana in code for CFK, for the property of the “pen”.
The chapters prior to this auction they are many and varied. Among the first and proper are the pages that were taken the feints about the creation of “albertismo”as counterweight or competition against hard Kirchnerism. As soon as CFK crowned the inverted power formula, it was assumed that Alberto Fernández would take advantage of the initial momentum of the victory over Mauricio Macri to create an internal space with the traditional PJ, basically governors, mayors, a substantial part of the CGT, sectors of the social movements.
The early days of the extensive quarantine, with a strong self-image and good numbers in the polls, extended that idea to the construction of a kind of agreement on the rules of the game with “moderate” sectors of Together for Change -especially, with those who had management responsibility-, to leave out the “hard” of both sidewalks. The idea did not prosper. CFK forced a break in relationship with Horacio Rodriguez Larreta. And the President also went ahead with a quarantine that seemed eternal and that added mismanagement of all kinds.
Subsequent attempts were also not sustained. and they added the costs of the gestures to tune in with the former president, whose most powerful expression was the hardening of positions against the Supreme Court and the disqualification of all the causes that CFK is facing. Kirchnerism was suspicious of this turn and also considered it untimely, little cash.
Alberto Fernandez He was losing in that walk what he considered his differential, the contribution that Kirchnerism had needed when imagining the Frente de Todos. CFK’s persistent offensive on Olivos eroded his power. The defeat of 2021 worsened the domestic picture. And the polls showed the impossibility of a more or less reasonable battle in the STEP.
Of course the most powerful factor is the economywhose most alarming traits are the dollar, inflation and social deterioration. In these days dominated by disputes – the tension with the Economy, which ended with the departure of Antonio Aracre-, the INDEC data on the increase in the Basic Total and Basic Food baskets went unnoticed. The CBT scored 8% in March, with a year-on-year mark of 113,%. And the CBA, 9% and 120.1%. Define the lines to measure poverty and indigence: everything suggests a noticeable growth in the first quarter of the year.
The resignation of Alberto Fernández thus exposes the greatest point of decline of power in a delicate economic and social context. The focus now narrows to CFK and Massa. the former president is reaffirmed as the political axis of the ruling party and the minister, as major piece of management. That framework and the rearrangement of chips will determine the chances of a STEP with two or three candidates or one negotiation to consecrate a formula of “unit” and fix the deal in the province of Buenos Aires. The rest of the assembly will include the governors, who, with few exceptions, advanced their own elections to bet on their territories.
Next week, preceded by rumors and expectations of the markets and the daily economy, will start with this new postcard from the ruling party.
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