MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Santa Fe thrashing: Bielsa announces he's quitting politics

Argentina's presidential couple Nestor and Cristina Kirchner harvested another electoral defeat, this time in the province of Santa Fe, a ruling party stronghold since 1983, when their hand picked candidate, former Foreign Affairs Minister Rafael Bielsa lost to a coalition of left leaning parties led by Socialist Hermes Binner.

Bielsa assumed full responsibility for the debacle and the ten point difference (48.6% to 38.8%), "I'm the only father of the defeat. I didn't have the size for candidate". But the fact is that Santa Fe is the fifth most important electoral district of Argentina, and the Kirchner couple visited the province on five occasions to express support for their "Front for Victory" candidate plus the generous public works checks from the federal administration. So categorical was the Binner victory and the impact of the defeat for arrogant Bielsa, a most undiplomatic minister of Foreign Affairs in his relations with Uruguay, Chile and the Falklands among others that he announced he was giving up his seat in Congress and quitting politics. The thirty points difference Binner managed in the province's main city and port Rosario where he has been mayor for several periods proved an insurmountable hurdle. Furthermore the landslide seems to have reached the capital Santa Fe City, which could for the first time in 16 years fall into the hands of Mario Barletta a Binner ally. The Kirchner administration did not discard a defeat in Santa Fe but were expecting a better performance from their candidate closer to a "technical draw", following on the forecasts of their official pollster. The possibility even seemed to reach Binner who had warned about a "possible fraud" when vote counting. However when Bielsa admitted defeat not long after the first results, President Kirchner, the outgoing governor Jorge Obeid and Carlos Reutemann a much loved leader in the province rang Binner to congratulate him. The calls not only reflect praise but can be interpreted as signals: Mr. Binner, who also managed to keep control of the city of Rosario with his mayor candidate, must face at federal level the Kirchner couple and locally the provincial Senate dominated by the now opposition Peronist party. But in spite of the Santa Fe slap and with only 54 days to the presidential election Cristina Kirchner continues to lead opinion polls comfortably and the question is whether a runoff will be needed. In this scenario the Binner victory gives some oxygen to presidential hopefuls Elisa Carrió and former Economy minister Roberto Lavagna. Summing up in the twelve governor elections held so far and leading to October 28, the Kirchner administration has been on the winning side in six/seven of them. This includes three provinces Entre Rios, San Juan and Tucuman where President Kirchner's hand picked candidates had a resounding victory. In the other three, Kirchner worked alliances with existing candidates such is the case of Catamarca, Rio Negro and La Rioja. In Cordoba, the fourth largest electoral district, the latest official numbers indicate that the candidate supported from the Casa Rosada, Juan Schiaretti managed to win last Sunday. However the difference is so slim that fraud charges have been presented by the runner up Luis Juez belonging to another faction of the ruling Peronist party. But in Buenos Aires City his man lost to conservative Mauricio Macri; in Santa Fe Bielsa suffered a landslide defeat by Binner; in Tierra del Fuego an unexpected newcomer defeated the Kirchner system; in Neuquen the ruling coalition kept firmly in office and in San Luis the Rodriguez Saa family remain in control and one of the brothers will be running as presidential hopeful next October.