On Wednesday at 23.59, it is almost a fact, the death certificate of the Frente de Todos will be signed. Peronism would renounce the electoral brand with which it returned to government in 2019, but the new vehicle will be born to try to retain power. That day, according to the schedule set by the Electoral Chamber, the parties must register the alliances to compete in the PASO, while the ruling party continues to debate in public the advisability of internal competition or a unity candidate. Ten days later, on June 24, will be the most decisive closing of lists.
There is still some resistance to retiring the FDT. Even, among some of the presidential candidates who have already launched themselves in the ruling party. "The brand of Frente de Todos still measures more than any candidate," said one of them.
A leader who often speaks with Cristina Kirchner heard the vice president say that the FDT was associated with the "economic failure" of this government.
The uncertainty that governs Peronism means that the implementation of a new machinery or even the survival of the FDT becomes nothing more than a formal act without political stridency.
Gildo Insfran is the only one who has the pen in the national PJ for the party to sign the alliances. He talks about it with Cristina Kirchner and the president and met with Sergio Massa, on Thursday, after the statement of the governors who "demanded" a consensus candidacy, which many interpreted as a nod to a possible candidacy of the economy minister.
Sergio Massa and Eduardo "Wado" De Pedro, two possible presidential candidates of Kirchnerism.
A leader who participates in the negotiations with his own political weight who speaks with Massa, with Máximo Kirchner and with the President rules out the possibility that the new official creature is called Unidad Renovadora, synthesis of Unidad Ciudadana – the vehicle of CFK in 2017 – and the Frente Renovador. In La Cámpora and in the Frente Renovador, in any case, they do not rule it out.
After pressure from the governors, Eduardo "Wado" de Pedro did not talk again this week about the possibility of primaries, which he was paying. In his environment they point out that he did not change his mind.
In the Casa Rosada, the statement of the provincial leaders did not go down well. "They didn't ask, they demanded. They do not have the political authority to establish a position, because in their districts they did what they wanted: they split, there was PASO and even a law of slogans," said a senior official with aspirations for these elections.
Former PJ representative Patricia García Blanco, an official of the Interior Ministry and successor of the historic Jorge Landau, spoke with several of the representatives who made up the Frente de Todos in 2019 to sign their registration to the new/old alliance of the ruling party. "They call her because she worked 20 years with Landau, but she no longer exercises that function," they said in Interior. The formal owner of that pen and man of Insfrán is Eduardo López Wesselhoefft.
Daniel Scioli signs up to go to the PASO in the PJ. Victoria Tolosa Paz goes to the Province.
No major additions are expected to the new Frente de Todos, which in 2015 had 15 national parties. PARTE, which Fernández founded after moving away from Kirchnerism in 2008, actively pushes Daniel Scioli's chances.
Among those who claim their right to compete in the primaries against the will of the governors, Massa and sectors of Kirchnerism rule out the possibility that the bulk of Peronism opts for a strategy similar to that chosen by Cristina Kirchner in the legislative elections of the Province in 2017, when Florencio Randazzo – seconded by his campaign manager Alberto Fernández – insisted on competing in PASO against CFK.
Then, the former president created Citizen Unity and "gifted" the seal – the shell – of the PJ to Randazzo, who barely exceeded 4 points in the generals. "That is not going to happen, because you generate a rupture and put the province at risk, if someone decides to break and you have a residual Peronism that gets 10 percent of the votes," says a leader with a long career in Kirchnerism. For a Peronist leader with bridges with all sectors, it is impossible for the PJ to be left out.
Registration in the other districts
The Province and the City must also register this Wednesday the composition and name of their fronts in the Electoral Justice. This Friday, at the headquarters of the Buenos Aires PJ on Solis Street, there was a meeting of party representatives. There were representatives of Peronism, but also of Popular Unity, of Claudio Lozano; Let's be Free, which responds to Evita; the Communist Party; Patria Grande, by Juan Grabois; and Federal Commitment (Sobernxs). There were no representatives of the Frente Renovador.
With the registration of the new national alliance, the regulations will also be defined to order the composition of the lists according to the floors of an inmate. If there is a STEP, the d'hont system and a floor of 25% would be applied. In any case, this rule will only apply to the 'national district' that serves – in addition to the presidential ballot – for that of Mercosur Parliamentarians. The method of electing the representation of the national and provincial legislatures is the responsibility of the districts, which often, but not always, apply the national model.
"You cannot sign the alliance without resolving the issue of whether or not there is a PASO. It's going to be a busy few days," says an FDT ally who until now asked to compete, but seems resigned to the unified request of governors and mayors. For the definition of background is missing. Cristina Kirchner, who did not go south, is silent for now.