After the frantic closing of lists it was reflected that Cristina Kirchner, without competing in these elections, plays a quota of power and will seek not only to maintain the number of senators that make up her most closed circle but also to increase her power, in a Chamber that is key since it is where both the appointment of judges and prosecutors and the approval of presidential decrees are decided.
In principle, in the ruling party only three legislators, all of them enrolled within Kirchnerism, will go for a new period and will do so directly to the October election because there is a single list.
But let's see what the vice president's strategy is to encircle a part of Congress. In this election, the attention is focused on the province of Buenos Aires, the district with the most voters and where Kirchnerism not only bets on the re-election of Axel Kicillof but also to keep the two senators by the majority.
Those listed are Juliana Di Tullio, who will seek to renew her mandate, and Eduardo "Wado" De Pedro, the failed presidential candidate, who is within Cristina's inner circle.
Wado de Pedro heads the list of candidates for senators of Union for the Fatherland for the Province of Buenos Aires.
Di Tullio arrived as an alternate to the Senate after the election as vice president of Cristina Kirchner and the appointment of Jorge Taiana as Minister of Defense, and this time she is second in the formula. But nothing is assured for Union for the Fatherland, since in this fight it can be up to third because the dispute not only scores Together for Change but also La Libertad Avanza by Javier Milei.
The dispute in the provinces
The experienced José Mayans, who was key to containing the provincial senators to agree with sectors of the opposition, will seek to continue as senator for Formosa like his partner María Teresa González, who is also running for re-election. Both legislators are also central to Kirchnerism's strategy.
The election of Santa Cruz is another of the provinces that arouses interest in Kirchnerism. There, Alicia Kirchner, who was in the Senate between 2005 and 2006, will lead the Union for the Fatherland ticket accompanied by YPF President Pablo González, who also wants to return to the upper house. If they prevail in the general, Cristina Kirchner will have two more senators and the most faithful to her leadership.
Ana María Ianni, whose mandate expires, will be in first place on the list of national deputies for the ruling party.
The ruling party also presents a unity list in La Rioja and the binomial is made up of Vice Governor Florencia López and the Minister of Production, Fernando Rejal. It is unclear whether these candidates will line up with Cristina or answer exclusively to Governor Ricardo Quintela, who was re-elected as head of the province.
In Jujuy, Carolina Moisés (national deputy) and Adrián Mendieta compete for Unión por la Patria; Leila Chaher and Javier Hinojo and Rubén Rivarola (president of the PJ jujeño) and Karina Paniagua.
The objective is to recover the seat of current Senator Guillermo Snopek, who broke away from the Frente de Todos bloc to form Federal Unity and is now running as a pre-candidate for national deputy.
In Misiones, the Frente Renovador de la Concordia, which governs the province, will go with its senatorial ticket attached to that of Sergio Massa and Agustín Rossi. Maurice Closs and Magdalena Solari will not seek a new term, and their replacements were proposed Carlos Arce (current vice governor) and Sonia Rojas Decut.
With his re-election bid frustrated, San Juan Governor Sergio Uñac will seek a seat in the Senate.
In San Juan, the Peronist Sergio Uñac, who could not access a new term due to a ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice, will seek access to the seat occupied by his brother José Rubén Uñac, who like Cristina del Carmen López Valverde will not seek reelection.
The current governor will head one of the lists of pre-candidates for senators of Union for All, accompanied by María Celeste Giménez Navarro.
The curious fact is that the other formula is composed of Juan Carlos Gioja (mayor of Rawson, brother of deputy and former governor José Luis Gioja) and Daniela Castro.
In San Luis, both Adolfo Rodríguez Saá and former vice governor candidate Eugenia Catalfamo decided not to renew their terms. Consequently, Peronism will go with the duo Fernando Salino and Cintia Ramírez, who answer to Governor Alberto Rodríguez Saá.
Juliana Di Tullio, Oscar Parrilli and Anabel Fernández Sagasti, three senators loyal to Cristina Kirchner. Photo Federico Lopez Claro
To the pre-candidates is added another dozen senators who still have mandates. Among them are the figures closest to the vice president such as Oscar Parrilli, Anabel Fernández Sagasti, Martín Doñate, Mariano Recalde, María Inés Pilatti Vergara and Claudia Ledesma Abdala. In addition, Silvina García Larraburu, Nora del Valle Giménez and Antonio Rodas are added, along with the camporistas María Eugenia Duré and Matías Rodríguez.
If the forecasts of the ruling party are fulfilled, Kirchnerism could win 14 seats in October, adding one for Buenos Aires and another for Santa Cruz, and recovering a place for Jujuy, where Peronism is divided. In this way, it would recover the majority with 35 seats, between own and allies, of which 17 would respond to the vice president.
Seven senators from Together for Change will seek re-election
However, the optimistic forecasts of the ruling party clash with the reality that the polls mark and the opposition wants to consolidate the first minority and even be close to the majority.
In Together for Change, 7 of the pre-candidates will go for re-election although all will have to compete in the PASO due to the lack of a unity list.
In these elections, 24 seats representing Buenos Aires, Formosa, Jujuy, La Rioja, Misiones, San Juan, San Luis and Santa Cruz will be renewed.
In the Buenos Aires battle, Together the seats occupied by José María Torello, who entered the Senate replacing Esteban Bullrich; and Gladys González, who will leave the upper house.
Therefore, in the primaries two lists are presented: the formula that responds to Patricia Bullrich, which is integrated by Maximiliano Abad and María Eugenia Talerico, and that of the sector of Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, which presents José Luis Espert and Cynthia Hotton.
José Luis Espert heads the list of candidates for Senators of Rodriguez Larreta in the Province of Buenos Aires.
While in Formosa, Luis Naidenoff is presented by the list of Bullrich with Agostina Villaggi, current provincial deputy, while by the payroll of Rodríguez Larreta goes with the current national deputy Fernando Carbajal, who was also a candidate for governor, and Celeste Ruiz Díaz.
While in Santa Cruz, Eduardo Costa and María Belén Tapia will seek re-election, but for different lists. One will be the Costa - Leo Roquel formula and the other Tapia and Carlos Zielke,
In La Rioja, Julio Martínez will seek his re-election accompanied – as this newspaper had anticipated – by the current mayor of the capital of La Rioja, Inés Brizuela y Doria, with whom he shared the formula in his first election for the upper house in 2017.
Clara Vega, who had entered Juntos as a substitute for Brizuela and Doria and then jumped to Kirchnerism, will not be able to seek re-election despite the fact that she flirted to run for a list of Sergio Massa. Nor will Ricardo Guerra, who played an important role as chairman of the Budget Committee, return to a new term.
In Jujuy, the opposition will have to define its candidates in the PASO. Mario Fiad and Silvia Giacoppo, who answer to Governor Gerardo Morales, will seek re-election, while Narda Cordero and Juan Barreiro are running along the lines of Patricia Bullrich.
Meanwhile, it was confirmed that Humberto Schiavoni ends his term as senator for Misiones this year. For this coalition are presented the formulas integrated by Martín Goerling and Carolina Soledad Gross, who respond to Bullrich; while for the sector headed by Rodríguez Larreta Ariel "Pepe" Pianesi and Pamela Encina scored.
In San Juan, Together for Change will also decide its candidates in the PASO. One of the lists is made up of Emilio Achem and Marcela Montaña, who is supported by Rodríguez Larreta; and the other is made up of Juan Domingo Bravo and María Luisa Velazco, who answers to Patricia Bullrich. Meanwhile, Roberto Basualdo will leave his bench on December 10.
Finally, in San Luis, the opposition will define its candidates between current Senator Gabriela González Riollo and Federico Trombotto, who are supported by Governor-elect Claudio Poggi; and the list of Jorge Lucero and Sandra Barroso, who go for Patricia Bullrich.
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