Kirchner resigns as head of the Peronist Party

By Pablo Krause
Herald staff

Former President Néstor Kirchner resigned as chairman of the Peronist party yesterday after his defeat by dissident Peronist Deputy Francisco De Narváez in Buenos Aires province in a mid-term election seen as a referendum on the government of his wife, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, where the ruling party lost control of both houses of Congress.
The former President requested that Buenos Aires Governor Daniel Scioli take over the leadership of the party, and that both Scioli and Lieutenant-Governor Alberto Balestrini stay in office, resigning their seats in Congress, as both officials ran along with Kirchner as “testimonial candidates” in Sunday’s elections.
“I have presented my resignation from the national leadership of the Peronist party,” said Kirchner during a televised statement recorded at the presidential residence in Olivos yesterday.
“I also asked the governor to stay in office.. I requested my two lifelong partners, Alberto and Daniel, to reinforce the model and the changes, which are fundamental for the party,” said Kirchner.
Scioli said he will initiate a round of negotiations with Peronist governors and officials and claimed the debate on presidential candidacies for the 2011 elections should be postponed for the moment.
“I’m the Deputy Chairman (of the Peronist party) and I will take charge following the resignation (of Kirchner),” said Scioli, who confirmed he will stay on as Governor despite winning a seat in Congress.
“I feel this (the Buenos Aires government) is where I can make greater efforts along with my lieutenant-governor (Balestrini),” added Scioli.
“To start this transition, I will talk to each of my fellow-governors and all the (Peronist) leadership,” said the Buenos Aires Governor.
“There will be time to discuss personal projects in the future,” added Scioli, in a clear reference to the 2011 presidential elections.
However, De Narváez has already stated he has “no intention” of participating in the current Peronist party leadership (see box on this page).
Kirchner said he requested that Scioli stay in office as he considers “the residents of Buenos Aires province want him to stay as Governor” and recognized the outcome of the elections was unexpected for the government.
“He (Scioli) should take the lead of the Peronist party, with strong support from the party chairman in Buenos Aires province (Balestrini) who clinched a great victory in La Matanza (the biggest district in Greater Buenos Aires),” said Kirchner.
“The results are not as expected, we think it’s time to take measures and pay attention to the political results, which is why I am resigning the leadership of the party,” added the former President.
Along with other main ruling party officials, Balestrini tend to downplay Sunday’s defeat.
“This is just a mid-term election, where you can win or lose,” said the lieutenant-governor.
“This time we lost by a very small margin, but we are convinced that this is the project that will make the country progress,” added Balestrini.

Link: http://www.buenosairesherald.com/PrintedEdition/View/5211

Córdoba: Juez defeats Radicals, Peronists

By Pablo Krause
Herald staff

The main candidates for Senator in Córdoba province yesterday acknowledged the victory of former Córdoba city Mayor Luis Juez, head of the Civic Front, ahead of former ombudsman Eduardo Mondino of the ruling Unión por Córdoba front and Radical candidate Ramón Mestre. However, the race was neck to neck in the voting for Lower House, with the Radical party leading by less than one percent.
With 95 percent of the votes counted, Juez was in first place with 30.65 percent, while Mestre and Mondino were battling for second place with the Radical candidate leading 26.70 percent to 26.01 percent.
The margin was not wider in the race for the Lower House, with Radical candidate Oscar Aguad leading with 29.07 percent of the votes and Gumersindo Alonso from the Civic Front trailing with 27.98 percent, while Unión por Córdoba’s Francisco Fortuna was third with 25.59.
The result also showed a strong rejection of the national government, in a province searingly marked by the conflict between the government and the farm sector over the export duties bill, as Victory Front candidate for Senate Eduardo Acastello came in fourth with 8.77%, as did Lower House candidate Carmen Nebreda with 9,11 percent of the votes.
Juez’s victory came as revenge for the former Córdoba mayor and Social and Civic Accord leader Elisa Carrio’s candidate in the province, following a close defeat by Governor Juan Schiaretti in the 2007 elections, which was marked by fraud accusations from the Civic Front candidate.
“We have defeated a gang of crooks,” said Juez, based on exit polls from his activists, before the official figures were made public. Later yesterday, the former Córdoba mayor praised the work of his scrutineers.
“We defeated a huge party machine less than 23 months after they stole an election from us ,” said Juez, who urged the scrutineers to stay at the voting centres until the result was officialized.
“This time we took all the precautions we did not take last time, they could not steal this election from us because we stayed until the very last minute,” he added. “We are going to win by five or six points.”
Asked about the situation of the Peronist party in Córdoba province, Juez compared it to the Titanic.
“They (the Peronist) are all inside a cabin and the name of the ship is Titanic, I would be very worried if I was aboard that ship,” said Juez.
“The Peronist party was severely punished, the people answered with their vote,” he added.
According to the official figures, Juez and his running-mate Norma Morandini will be elected Senators for Córdoba, the country’s third larger district representing 8.7 percent of the electoral register, while Mestre was poised to be elected as the Senator for the largest minority in the province.
The result is a huge blow for the ruling party, which loses the seats of pro-government Deputies Roberto Urquía and Haidé Giri, while the Civic Front gains one senator as Carlos Rossi ends his term in office.
In the Lower House race, the Radical Party will pick up three Deputies, including Aguad’s reelection, as well as the Civic Front. Unión por Córdoba winning two and the Victory Front only garners one deputy.
Earlier in the afternoon, the Radical party and the Civic Front had denounced missing and false ballots at the voting centres.

Link: http://www.buenosairesherald.com/PrintedEdition/View/5167