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There has to be a very big Kirchner on the ballot." The phrase belongs to a camporista leader with responsibilities in the campaign and gives an account of the new objective that was drawn in the youth group, after the operative clamor for Cristina Kirchner to desist from her decision not to run "to anything" failed.
In the face of the PASO, the Ks seek to shore up the pre-candidacy for president of the Minister of the Interior, Eduardo "Wado" de Pedro; and push the idea that Maximo Kirchner heads one of the lists for Congress.
While the former head of the block of the Frente de Todos en Diputados bids so that there is no competition in the Primaries, in Kirchnerism they let it be known that they work on an electoral scheme that places him as head of the list of Deputies for the Province of Buenos Aires and, in tandem, the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, as the first candidate for the Senate.
"It is a concrete option, it is within what has been negotiated," a Kirchner leader confirmed to Clarín with daily dialogue with Máximo Kirchner.
Sergio Massa and Máximo Kirchner in the middle of the tour to China.
Although they were two options that had been sounding in recent days, especially since De Pedro stung in tip for the presidential race within the FdT, it begins to settle with more intensity just when Kirchner and Massa lead the delegation that traveled to China in search of funds.
In Kirchnerism they deny that there has been a summit meeting of the dome ("There was no repeat") in which a negotiation has been closed, as the newspaper Página 12 assured; and they assure that Cristina has not yet made "any decision".
But they admit that an armed K is gaining momentum to conform "all sectors" and to respect the will of Axel Kicillof to go for a new term at the head of the Buenos Aires governorship.
An ultrakirchner official, who works for De Pedro but first follows orders from Maximo, confirmed that in recent days progress was made on this idea.
They understand that, without Cristina, the surname Kirchner "cannot be missing." They remember a phrase that, before fighting with La Cámpora, the mayor of Esteban Echeverría, Fernando Gray, said in 2018, at a meeting of the Buenos Aires PJ: "Maximum, we need a Kirchner on the ballot." It was the genesis of the Frente de Todos, after the resounding defeat suffered by Peronism in the 2017 Legislative elections.
Sergio Massa and Eduardo "Wado" De Pedro at the inauguration of the Mercedes train to Tomás Jofré at the weekend.
It is worth clarifying: reluctant this time to point to a single candidate, which complicates Maximo's plans to lower candidates, Cristina did give the green light to advance in the search for internal consensus and the consequent sketches of lists. It wants to be just the one that puts the last stamp on those agreements.
This scheme, on which Kirchner operators worked in the last hours, would open a place of privilege to seduce the PJ governors, a key point facing the internal one with Daniel Scioli: the vice presidency.
Although it always sounded like a possibility that Santiago del Estero puts it (now there is talk of Governor Gerardo Zamora but before his wife Claudia Ledesma sounded), other names are added: the Chaco Jorge Capitanich is one of Cristina's favorites. And, unlike the santiagueño, who is a radical turned into K, he belongs to Peronism.
That place would not be the one Massa is aiming for. The presence of Máximo Kirchner as head of the ballot for Deputies would lead to the jump of the tigrense, who already occupied that place in 2019, to the contest for the Senate. Although his intention when he took office in the Economy Ministry was to compete for the presidency, the difficulties he had to face in the administration would have convinced the Tigrean to wait for one more election and he would bet on closing a beneficial negotiation for his troops of the Renewal Front.
In turn, she would keep one of the seats that Cristina won in 2017 and that she had to leave to assume as vice president. And, in the face of defeat, it would allow him to secure an institutional place to lead the resistance to a non-K government.
Massa is careful not to close the possibility of going for the Presidency, but that idea seems to lose weight. For now, he gives no signals even to his entourage about what decision he will make.
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I'm not in the vain fight. There has to be only one candidate, whoever it is, but there has to be agreement because we have to continue governing," he repeated to someone from his troop who consulted him to see the steps to follow. But he did not give greater certainties.
His misgivings led several of his collaborators to find out the same day that he would attend Cristina's event in Plaza de Mayo.
Hence, the staging he drew in Mercedes with Wado de Pedro had different interpretations. While a sector of the massismo tried to install it as an eventual formula, led by the head of the Economy Ministry, others objected and framed it strictly as an act of management (it was the inauguration of the tourist train that connects with Tomás Jofre).
And from La Cámpora they warned that, strictly speaking, the photo should be read with the focus on the centrality of De Pedro. "It's not Wado accompanying Massa, it's the other way around," they hurried to clarify from the "orga".
However, Massa paid the suspense when, referring to the electoral key, he said: "We have no concern about what is the place that touches us if not for what is the Argentina that we build."
However, Massa needs to return from Beijing with the clearest roadmap, to reach the Congress of the Renewal Front with a proposal for his troops: his presence on the ballot for the Senate and more places on the list of deputies would be an offering that would leave everyone satisfied. Even those who ask for more.
A fact: when someone outlined the chances of Malena Galmarini to be a vice presidential candidate of Wado de Pedro or Axel Kicillof in the Province, from the Renewal Front itself they clarified that "she only thinks of Tigre", where the mayor Julio Zamora, another ally of Maximo, already warned that he will resist giving up his chair.
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