Buenos Aires, Argentina – Kirchnerism nominated Interior Minister Eduardo “Wado” de Pedro as the ruling party’s candidate to compete in the presidential elections on October 22, which will be preceded by mandatory primaries for each coalition on August 13. Meanwhile, and in the midst of the electoral context, the province of Jujuy continues to be submerged in social discontent against the project and approval of the constitutional reform and the teacher salary claim, which has triggered protests and strong clashes between the public force and hundreds of protesters. .
Finally, it was confirmed what seemed more and more defined: the Minister of the Interior, Eduardo “Wado” de Pedro will be the candidate of the Peronist sector closest to Vice President Cristina Fernández to contest the presidential primaries.
Meanwhile, tensions continue in the province of Jujuy after the demonstrations and strong repression last Tuesday.
And the filling of the Néstor Kirchner gas pipeline began, which could have a very positive economic impact for the country.
Pedro’s ‘Wado’ will be the candidate of the sector closest to Cristina Fernández
This Saturday the registration of the candidates for the Simultaneous and Mandatory Open Primaries on August 13 closes, from which the formulas will come out to contest the presidential elections in October.
The great doubt, the great expectation, was around who would be the candidate that would represent the sector of Vice President Cristina Fernández, something that was confirmed this Thursday: the one chosen for the inmates of the official Unión por la Patria (formerly Frente de All) is Eduardo ‘Wado’ de Pedro, Minister of the Interior and very close to the Vice President. He will compete against Daniel Scioli, the current ambassador to Brazil, if there is no change between now and Saturday.
I deeply love my country.
It is necessary to return to represent and defend the federal country.
Let’s recover the hope and pride of being Argentine.
I want to be your president, the president of all Argentine families. pic.twitter.com/MpGfhrUT09— Wado de Pedro ?? (@wadodecorrido) June 22, 2023
In opposition, Together for Change will present two lists. On the one hand, Patricia Bullrich, former Minister of Security during the government of Mauricio Macri, on the other, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, head of Government of the City of Buenos Aires.
The rookie in politics and current deputy, Javier Milei, will be the candidate of his space, La Libertad Avanza, which unites an ultra-liberal position in the economic sphere with conservative principles in the social sphere. There will be no internal in La Libertad Avanza, but all candidates must participate in the primaries.
In the Left and Workers Front, the space furthest to the left of the political spectrum, the candidates that will face each other are the national deputy Myriam Bregman and the legislator of the City of Buenos Aires Gabriel Solano.
The crisis in Jujuy and its reading at the national and electoral level
A series of protests for salary demands and against the elements of the reform of the Constitution of the province of Jujuy escalated in the streets and in politics. A group of protesters entered the government house, and the provincial police repressed the protesters with crude violence. The reaction of the security forces and the controversial points of the new Constitution led to criticism from the National Government and a reaction from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Governor Gerardo Morales, for his part, accused the government and its political sector of being behind the protests, but agreed to modify two of the three articles under discussion, although he did not change the one that places greater restrictions on public protest. President Alberto Fernández said that the Ministry of Justice of the Nation will appear in Justice to determine if the questioned articles are unconstitutional. Meanwhile, tension and protests continue in the province.
What happens in Jujuy is read in a mirror by the Peronist ruling party of the Union for the Homeland (formerly Frente de Todos) and the opposition of Together for Change, to which Morales belongs.
For the former, it is proof that if Together for Change reaches the Presidency in this year’s elections, they will use repression to be able to implement unpopular policies, such as adjustments. For the latter, what happened shows that a government of Together for Change will have to face constant organized pressure on the street that will jeopardize their ability to govern.
El Chaco: the investigation into the missing young woman continues while the ruling party receives an electoral coup
Investigations to try to find the remains of Cecilia Strzyzowski, the 28-year-old girl who has been missing since June 1, are advancing in the province of El Chaco, in the north of the country. The prosecutor who intervenes in her case to determine what happened to her starts from the hypothesis that she may have been a victim of femicide. On Monday hundreds of people, including mother Cecilia Strzyzowski, marched in the provincial capital, Resistencia, to demand justice.
The national government offered a reward of 5 million pesos (about US$10,000 at the parallel exchange rate) for anyone who provides information that helps to clarify the disappearance of the young woman.
VIDEO: ?? Argentines march to demand justice over suspected femicide
People in the Argentine province of Chaco demonstrate following the presumed murder of Cecilia Strzyzowski, a 28-year-old woman who has been missing since June 1 pic.twitter.com/IJQwqUqhTc
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) June 21, 2023
Among the main investigated are César Sena, Cecila’s husband, and his parents, Marcela Acuña and Emerenciano Sena, leader of a provincial social movement. These last two were pre-candidates related to Governor Jorge Capitanich, but the electoral justice excluded them from the primary elections that took place last Sunday.
In that contest, Capitanich, who is seeking re-election, obtained the highest percentage of votes (36.46%), comfortably surpassing the other candidate in his space, the Peronist Frente Chaqueño, Ismael Espinoza (0.37%). But when it came to counting the total votes of the political spaces, the Chaco Front was surpassed by the opposition of Together for Change, whose two candidates added 42.66% of the votes: Leandro Zdero (23.08%) and Juan Carlos Polini (19.58%). There was 41.64% abstention and the blank vote was very important, close to 10% of the total.
On September 17, Zdero and Capitanich will be the two main candidates in the elections in which the province will elect its governor.
The Néstor Kirchner gas pipeline began to fill
Last Tuesday the process of filling the Néstor Kirchner gas pipeline began, informed the state company Energía Argentina, in charge of the work, which executed a temporary union of private companies.
The 573-kilometer-long gas pipeline will carry gas from the Patagonian province of Neuquén, where the second largest unconventional gas formation in the world, Vaca Muerta, is located, to the province of Buenos Aires, where the areas with the greatest consumption. The work, which would normally have taken two years, was completed in 11 months.
The pipeline is expected to be formally inaugurated on July 9. From then on it would begin to have a great impact on the country’s economy. According to Energía Argentina, the project would save US$4.2 billion annually by substituting gas imports.
