MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine leader says Cristina Fernandez will not bid for re-election

Eduardo Duhalde, heavy weight of Argentine politics, all possible elected posts from councillor to caretaker president

Argentine presidential pre-candidate Eduardo Duhalde , on the campaign trail, assured that President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner will decide not to seek re-election in June because ”she will realize that she has no chances of winning” in a second round.

During his visit to an agricultural show, Duhalde said that “everyone who wants to have a candidate in the opposition will have it.”

“Fernandez de Kirchner will decide not to seek re-election in June. She will see that she has no chances of winning in a second round,” the ex president told the press.

“Come June, they (they Kirchnerites) will panic, since neither the president nor any other official will have a chance of winning the election,” he continued.

Duhalde later said that Fernández de Kirchner had a “perverse attitude” towards farmers when she said that their sector only contributes with 2.8% of the economy.

“It was not a mistake, it was an evil act toward the sector that contributes the most with the Argentine economy,” he continued. “It’s obvious that she wants to get back at the farmers, but she can’t,” the ex president assured.

Argentine presidential elections are scheduled for next October and Mrs. Kirchner has the chance to run for a second consecutive four-year period. Under the Argentine system the winning candidate must obtain 45% of votes cast or 40% plus a ten percentage point difference over the runner up. If not a run off takes place between the two most voted candidates.

The Kirchner team fears a run-off because Argentine public opinion has been polarized by some attitudes and policies of the president. Although Cristina Fernandez and Duhalde belong to the same Peronist party they are sworn enemies, so the Argentine electorate, according to recent public opinion polls, at national level is divided in three main forces: the Kirchnerite, the anti-Kirchnerite and the opposition.

In related news this week Argentina’s main opposition party, Union Civica Radical, also begun the race for October with the announcement of the pre-candidacy of one of its leaders.

Senator Ernesto Sanz formally began his presidential campaign at a rally in Buenos Aires City strongly criticizing the government of President Cristina Kirchner and linked rival Ricardo Alfonsín to the past, saying he stands for “nostalgia.”

“I’m not going to ask for a nostalgic vote. I’m going to ask for a vote of hope. If we settle with our memories we’ll always end up at the middle of the road,” he said, in a clear reference to Ricardo Alfonsín, whose father Ricardo Alfonsín became president of Argentina in 1983 and is now hoisted as a Radical hero.

Sanz will be running against Alfonsín in the April 30th primaries.

Sanz stated that Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s government “is finished” and assured that along with his Radical peers he is in “absolute condition to lead a possible, viable government,” although he warned that in order to do so, “they need to win on April 30th.”

“If we win these elections we will do so in the name of the millions of people who are not Radicals. Our political project has to expand beyond the Radical borders and include citizens who also voted for the Kirchners,” he stated.