MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Duhalde and Menem challenge Kirchner “beyond differences”

Argentine president Nestor Kirchner campaigning for the coming October mid term elections attacked his predecessor Eduardo Duhalde and a possible electoral alliance with former president Carlos Menem in politically strategic province of Buenos Aires.

Speaking from the northern province of Santiago del Estero where he landed with the a fat cheque book, president Kirchner said no "old leaderships" agreement was going to impede him from advancing in the building of a new Argentina, "with social inclusion, justice, dignity, a new tempo, a new political dynamics that Argentines have been long demanding".

President Kirchner's words were interpreted as a strong reply in the event of a coalition in the province of Buenos Aires, --where First Lady Cristina Fernandez Kirchner is running for the Senate--, between Mr. Duhalde and Mr. Menem, so far bitter enemies, but pragmatic, populist leaders with strong structures in the Justicialista party.

Actually former president Menem in a recent article accused President Kirchner of wanting to destroy the Justicialista Party with his transversal political proposal, and called on the party's unity. The article was adequately titled, "Beyond differences".

Besides, Mr. Menem's leader in Buenos Aires province Luis Patti suggested that he would most possibly be voting for Chiche Duhalde (Mr. Duhalde's wife), opposing Cristina and the Kirchner's political project.

"They are the old leadership, and any understanding is only geared to survive with their interests behind the backs of the Argentine people", said Mr. Kirchner in Santiago del Estero next to the province's governor Geraldo Zamora, and a strong delegation from Buenos Aires which included the cabinet chief and several ministers.

"When you want to build a new relation with the people, between civil society and the government, when you want to put an end to the old corporative system, you can be sure you'll be met by obstacles set up by those who lived very well in the past", added the Argentine president.

Mr. Kirchner is committed to building a new horizontal catch all party, cracking the ample left-right specter covered by the Justicialismo, cutting all links with the strong party's leadership, --particularly in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina's main electoral circuit--, that dominates the current structure and with whose support he was catapulted to the presidency in 2003.

For this project, Mrs. Kirchner an excellent vote catcher is campaigning as an independent, under the "Victory Front" movement, for a Senate seat representing the province of Buenos Aires disputing Mr. Duhalde's turf preeminence.

The First Lady and the budget surplus most probably will see her elected to the Senate, but it's doubtful if the overall Kirchner project will have sufficient support as to effectively, through the "Victory Front", take control of the all powerful Justicialista party structure.

However the challenge seems serious enough as to have old enemies move closer "beyond differences".