MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina: Gov't sees no accord

Interior Minister Aníbal Fernández yesterday said that “there is no possibility” of an agreement between followers of President Néstor Kirchner and former interim president Eduardo Duhalde to draw a single slate of legislative candidates for the October midterm election.

"It is only too evident that there has been no fertile ground for a common programme," said the minister, who ruled out an accord between the two sides, saying that "negotiation options disappear when candidates' slates are presented. "To say that an agreement is far away would mean that there is the possibility of an agreement, and there is none," he told Radio Mitre.

The two factions of the Peronist party on Friday registered their own provincial candidates slates in Buenos Aires province ? which is home to nearly 40 percent of Argentina's population.

However, the deadline to register national candidates expires on Friday and despite Fernández's assertions, leaders from both factions don't rule out an eleventh-hour accord that may prevent the party from splitting.

"Every effort has been made until the best possible time, before the slates for provincial candidates were presented," Fernández said. "What we were seeking was not to stress differences, but coincidences to have a common programme."

The minister said that there were some "very remarkable issues" such as the fact that on May 25, 2003 (when Kirchner took office) there was support for the President "and now we see that some of those who supported him question the candidates proposed under the President's strategy. This is almost schizophrenic."

He added that at a given moment during last week there was full agreement but that then a "mysterious call" came in asking for additional concessions. He did not identify the origin of the call. "It was then when the readiness from both camps sunk and it was clear that there was no possible renegotiation. It was the end of the road."

The Interior minister said that negotiation possibilities disappeared when separate slates were presented "because society cannot be fooled presenting slates that will later be massaged with the incorporation of new candidates on a theoretical agreement.

"That would amount to what the President calls leadership-connivance, such as the Olivos Pact, whereby two men on top make decisions on behalf of the rest. The President is not prepared to do this."

Under the Olivos Pact reached between Menem and former Radical president Raúl Alfonsín, Alfonsín agreed to facilitate the 1994 reform of the Constitution to allow Menem's consecutive re-election ? while Menem accepted the incorporation of a third senator in each district that would go for the first minority. In that way Alfonsín managed to somewhat prevent his Radical party from an electoral collapse. Duhalde was appointed interim president in January 2002 amid Argentina's worst economic crisis in history which in turn led to political instability and popular anger against the political class at large.

He initially backed Kirchner because, most observers agree, his political fate was tied to that of the President's and any possible failure of Kirchner would be seen also a Duhalde's failure. Several ministers ? among them Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna ? served under Duhalde. However, a too successful Kirchner would also be a threat for Duhalde, who is the peronist strongman in Buenos Aires province. Buenos Aires Governor Felipe Solá ? a staunch ally of Kirchner ? told Radio Del Plata that Duhalde has finally "taken off his mask. The hypocrisy is over. We many times have heard Duhalde express his full, unconditional support for President Kirchner. At that time I said that that support was not genuine."

Duhalde at one moment went as far as saying that whoever failed to support Kirchner would be a "traitor."

Kirchner took office with the support from Duhalde who, in that way, wanted to prevent former president Carlos Menem ? then his worst rival within the party ? from likely winning a third term in power.

But soon afterwards, and despite Duhalde's public protests of support for Kirchner, both quickly engaged in a bitter dispute for the control of the party as Kirchner wants to build his own power base.

Within that strategy, the President has not hesitated in siding with non-Peronist forces in an attempt to bypass Duhalde's machinery.

Duhalde in the near past tried to force Kirchner back into the Peronist flock as he fears that Kirchner's "transversal" (cross-party) strategy of forging alliances with non-Peronist forces may erode his own grip over the party. Duhalde repeatedly invited Kirchner to chair the party along the tradition that the President of the nation also presides over the party, but Kirchner turned down the invitations saying that he had "more important things to do."

On Friday both camps presented their provincial candidates' slates for October's election that will renew half the Lower House and a third of the Senate.

Followers of Duhalde kept for themselves the "official" Peronist party seal while followers of Kirchner registered their candidates under the Front for Victory, formed by Peronists and other political forces.

With a view to next Friday, when national candidates must be presented, Kirchner want First Lady Cristina Fernández de Kirchner ? currently a Senator for the President's Santa Cruz home-province ? to run for the Senate for Buenos Aires province, where she was born.

According to polls, the senator-turned-first lady would obtain a resounding victory in Argentina's main electoral district. However, Mrs Kirchner has not said yet whether she will run.

Meanwhile, Duhalde's wife, Deputy Hilda "Chiche" González de Duhalde, has reportedly decided to herself run for the Senate, and is also likely to win a seat. Mrs Duhalde has repeatedly urged Kirchner's camp to go to a primary to decide the candidates for the 35 national deputy seats and the 24 senatorial seats that are at stake, but Kirchner's camp has rejected the option. At the same time, half the Lower House and half the Senate in the province will be renewed.

The Peronist party did not resort to primaries even in 2003, when along with Kirchner also Menem and former San Luis governor Adolfo Rodríguez Saá ran for the presidency. It was the first time in its over 50 years of life that the Peronist party did not send in a single presidential candidate.

Kirchner until recently said that the October election will be a plebiscite on his administration but now, in view of a likely split of the party that would diminish his chances, government officials have been seeking to play down the plebiscite notion. Opposition candidates are outraged at the possibility of the Peronists sending in two separate slates because in that case Peronist ? either under the official Peronist seal or under the Victory Front ? would win the overwhelming majority of congressional seats.

Margarita Stolbizer, head of the Radical party's Buenos Aires province branch, and Socialist leader Jorge Rivas, said that they would resort to courts in an attempt to prevent the Peronists from running separately, arguing that in that way Peronists would win the two senatorial seats corresponding to the majority and the third senatorial seat earmarked for the first minority, which, they add, would violate the Constitution.

Ricardo López Murphy, of the centre-right Rebirth party, said that "he hopes" a Peronist split will not affect his chances of seeking a national senatorial seat in the province, but he has insisted that if the Peronists split governability will be seriously affected.(Bue Herald)