MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Gov't officials to run in primary elections need to resign in order to focus on their campaigns, Argentine President warns

Argentine President Alberto Fernández Wednesday warned that government officials who wished to run in the upcoming mandatory primary elections should resign their offices in order to focus on their campaigns.

 Fernández insisted he will uphold that ethical rule leading up to the September 12 polls, as all political parties in the country are struggling to make up their tickets.

The president explained that “some want to inject into people's heads that Argentina is an unlivable country”, when what is “unlivable”, he said, is “to read the media or listen many times to the things that are said” in those spaces, which misrepresent reality and bring discouragement to the population.

Regarding the drafting of tickets within his FdT alliance, Fernández was clear: “I hate the idea of winners and losers, we all agreed and we all won.”

Fernández maintained that every candidate within his political space must rest assured that the Government “did everything necessary so that no Argentine has lacked the attention required during the pandemic.” He added that “we have the peace of mind that we did everything so that no one lacked health care.”

The President also stressed that besides resigning their jobs, winning candidates must actually take the office for which they may have been elected. In 2007, then President Néstor Kirchner (2003-2007) came up with a concept he dubbed “testimonial candidacies,” whereby prominent hopefuls who were already holding an office such as the one of governor of one province and were therefore known and liked by potential voters were to be listed on top of the ballots.

Then after winning the elections they would not resign and a lesser-known candidate from within the ballot's list would move up to a Parliamentary seat.

Social Development Minister Daniel Arroyo and Defense Minister Agustín Rossi are said to be aiming for Congress and would therefore need replacing.

At another level, Doctor Daniel Gollan, who was up until Tuesday Health Minister of the Province of Buenos Aires and played a key role in the fight against covid-19 which placed him constantly under the limelight, has already resigned his position to vie for a Congress seat. His former Deputy Health Minister Nicolás Kreplak has already been sworn in as his successor.

President Fernández supported his Mexican collegue Andrés Manuel López Obrador's initiative to drop the Organization of American States (OAS), which “is no longer a body that functions and serves Latin America” and create a new entity “which best expresses” the region's interests. Fernández mentioned he thought that the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) could be an “instrument” for that purpose.

Fernández also recalled in a TV interview from Lima, Peru, the OAS' involvement and particularly that of its Secrertary General, the Uruguayan Luis Almagro, in the 2019 toppling of Evo Morales as President of Bolivia.