Alberto Fernández traveled to La Rioja on Monday to appear with the re-elected governor Ricardo Quintela. During a press conference, the president spoke of the step aside he took in the search for a second presidential term.
"Getting off is going home, I didn't get off anywhere. I am a political militant, the President of the Republic and at this moment my greatest obligation is to work on the problems of Argentines, which are many, and if I lock myself in a campaign I will have to divide my time, "he said.
At the end of April, the president announced on Twitter his decision not to compete in the next presidential elections, in which he asked that the PASO be the ones that define the candidate of the Frente de Todos.
"On December 10, I will hand over the presidential sash to whoever has been legitimately elected at the polls by popular vote. I will work fervently to make him or her a companion of our political space," he said in the video that he disseminated through networks.
There, too, without mentioning Vice President Cristina Kirchner, he spoke of the criticism his administration received. "In these years I chose to endure some criticism or face smear maneuvers against the national government and I never responded. By my responsibility as president, I avoided any escalation in conflicts. I always acted in this way to guarantee the unity of our political space," said Alberto F.
On Monday, he highlighted his decision to continue leading the government and stressed the importance of the unity of the Frente de Todos to be competitive in the next presidential elections.
"We must do what was done in La Rioja, we must be united, we must preserve unity to confront those who work to profit for their own benefit and not for the benefit of the people," he said in reference to the triumph of the ruling party in the province.
In addition, he said that personal aspirations have to be put aside, in order to advance in the construction of an electoral strategy.
"If there is no candidate who synthesizes everything, let the most voted candidate emerge in a PASO. My task is to keep Peronism united, maintain transparency in the PASO and respect what people say," he said.
Despite the position of the President, Kirchnerism still hopes that Cristina Kirchner will change her approach and present herself in the elections, or find a single candidate, which is speculated to be the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa.
The cabinet chief, Agustín Rossi, also expressed himself in the same line as the head of state and maintained that the ruling party has to settle the candidacies in the Simultaneous and Mandatory Open Primaries, instead of looking for a single candidate as promoted by a sector of Kirchnerism.
"The scenario today of the Frente de Todos is closer to a PASO than to a consensus list. It is not configured who are those who are going to compete and there is still more water to pass under the bridge so that things are definitive, "he said in a dialogue with El Destape radio.
Eduardo Wado De Pedro, Minister of the Interior, one of the presidential candidates who has the support of the former president and La Cámpora, also slipped the idea of competing in internal elections.
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