MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

“There’s no plan B” if Cristina Fernandez does not seek re-election, says governor

Governor Urtubey openly joined the Cristina/Moyano fray

A recently elected governor and very close to Argentine president Cristina Fernandez cautioned that “there is not plan B” within the ruling Victory Front if Mrs Kirchner decides not to seek re-election next week.

“If Cristina isn’t a candidate, there is no plan B. We will be in deep trouble. We’ll have to sit down and see how we solve this” said Juan Manuel Urtubey, governor of the north-west province of Salta.

“When there’s a political process being led by a person with enormous prestige, there are just no other alternatives. If Cristina doesn’t want to seek re-election, then we must choose what is best for Argentines. But we believe she is the best candidate from a Peronist point of view.”

Governor Urtubey said that when the ruling Peronist National Council meets this week, they will discuss on how to react in case the President chooses not to run.

Urtubey won the Salta gubernatorial elections in April and will remain in office until 2015. Among the hopefuls he defeated by a wide margin was a candidate sponsored by organized labour head Hugo Moyano who is aggressively putting pressure on President Cristina Fernandez to have unionists in the ballot tickets including the Vice president candidate for next October election.

Cristina Kirchner congratulated Urtubey for his victory and announced he was one of the rising stars of the new generation of Argentine political leaders. Urtubey said at the time he was also grateful to Hugo Moyano for having sponsored a candidate and campaigned against him.

“The best thing that happened was to have Moyano campaign against me: his picture made voters come running to vote for me”, said Urtubey.

When the young governor was questioned whether he’d be willing to run as presidential candidate in October, he denied it.

“I’m not going to go national. Regardless of my political calling, I have to keep working for Salta. During this past three and a half years I’ve travelled all over the province and I have gotten to know all the problems and needs of the people. It wouldn't be responsible for me to seek the presidency right now. Whatever comes in the future, I will deal with it then” Urtubey concluded.