The pressure of Kirchnerism to avoid internal competition in the Frente de Todos for the PASO encounters a new obstacle.
Another name will be added to the batch of pre-candidates who signed up from the ruling party, such as the ambassador to Brazil, Daniel Scioli, and the piquetero Juan Grabois: Sergio Berni, the former Buenos Aires Minister of Security is preparing his candidacy for President and threatening to "play outside" if the K insist that she define Cristina Kirchner with her finger.
"
He is going to be a candidate for President
. He is waiting for him to define himself in the Front, but if they do not let him compete like in 2021, he will play outside," they confirmed to
Clarín
close to Berni, who in recent weeks lowered his profile, after
having been left at the center of the scene due to the beating he received
from a group of drivers who were protesting the crime of a couple, Daniel Barrientos.
So far they have not managed to find the driver's murderers.
Due to his strategy of lowering his profile, the Kicillof minister gave no sign of his intention, but those who heard him in the last few hours say that
"he is not willing to repeat what happened in the last election," in relation to that by order of Máximo Kirchner,
in the legislative elections he had to lower the lists of "La 20 de Noviembre", his group, in dozens of districts in which he wanted to compete.
That order from the former head of the FdT block in Deputies was endorsed by the vice president and inflamed the minister, who from there launched
harsh public criticism of whom until then he had admitted as his "only boss."
"Time proved him right: Together (for the Change) he went internal and he did better than if he went with a unit list. Now Sergio is not going to bank that nobody prohibits him from competing. In addition, he believes that if he goes outside, He can get 6 or 7 points. And that is a problem for the Front," completes a source who heard his warning.
But, he clarifies, Berni "doesn't want to break up, he wants to compete."
Clarín contacted the minister, but he limited himself to replying that he has "nothing to say."
Distanced from Cristina since 2021 due to "political, not personal differences", the Kicillof minister received a call from the vice president minutes after he was seen on television cornered by the bus drivers, when they were still doing the first cures.
It was the first time in months that they spoke (Berni had called her after the attack he suffered last year) and, although the vice was the first to call him, "they did not speak more than about the fact."
This relationship is not going through its best moment but it is marked by more than three decades of history and joint work, from Santa Cruz.
"They are political differences. In the middle of the pandemic, Sergio was the first to say that Cristina had been wrong with Alberto Fernández, when she had 80 points of positive image," they cut off in his environment.
Due to these turns of politics, Berni's vision now coincides with the President's resistance and Grabois's claim that there be STEP.
"Without Cristina or with Cristina, they have to stop competing. Sergio is not going to say anything for now, but he is preparing to launch," they maintain at the Ministry of Security.
Despite the differences with La Cámpora and the versions that revealed that his fight with Máximo Kirchner was close to transcending the verbal, Berni considers that he is the only FdT leader of those mentioned as possible designated by Cristina who, due to his profile can add votes}.
"He believes that (Sergio) Massa does not bring any votes from the center or from the right, that Wado (for the Minister of the Interior, Eduardo De Pedro) subtracts him and that only he can steal votes from (Javier) Milei and Mauricio Macri," they highlight. in his group, La 20 de Noviembre.
In the organization they are advancing with the architecture to be able to compete outside in the event of a new K veto. "His candidacy is confirmed, what remains to be known is what the Frente de Todos wants to do," they challenge.
For hard-line Kirchnerism, which believes that a unity list must be reached to avoid more vote leaks and, especially, to consolidate a candidacy that does not fall below 25 points in the PASO, Berni's alternative disputing the vote Peronist at the national level and in the Province of Buenos Aires represents a real problem.
In the PJ Congress on May 16, where the alliances and floors would be defined to enter the distribution of the lists, it can be resolved.
"There is time to agree. And if we don't, we will see what to do on June 24 (the day the lists are closed," they complete.
