Salta Governor Juan Manuel Urtubey casts his vote yesterday.
Gov Urtubey plays down loss, expresses interest in running for the presidency in 2015
The Workers Party (PO) won big in Salta’s provincial elections yesterday, with a widespread victory in the capital, where half of the electorate lives.
Governor Juan Manuel Urtubey minimized the defeat, and earlier in the day had expressed interest in running for president in 2015, making it clear yesterday’s results would not be crucial in his decision-making about his political future.
The leftist PO defeated the traditional parties in Salta City but did not manage to expand its victories to the rest of the province, where the Justicialist Party (PJ) — led by Urtubey — and the government’s Victory Front (FpV) among other provincial fronts shared victories across the parties.
Yesterday, 892,000 residents in the northern province had to elect their representatives. Twelve provincial senators were elected, and the PO won a provincial Senate seat for the capital.
With 100 percent of votes counted, PO candidate Gabriela Cerrano had come out on top for the provincial Senate with 27.14 percent of the vote, followed by Gustavo Sáenz of the Peronist Party with 22.69 percent and the Popular Salta Front’s (Frente Popular Salteño) Alejandro San Milan with 15.91 percent.
Urtubey played down yesterday’s defeat to the PO in the provincial capital, emphasizing that the Peronist Party had come out on top in 20 of Salta’s 23 municipalities.
“We have 43 of the 60 legislators. In the Senate, out of the 12 that were renewed, 9 were PJ and and we kept seven seats. Out of 23 senators, 17 are PJ,” he said.
The party headed by the governor obtained three seats in the Upper House of the provincial Congress, winning the elections in General Güemes, Guachipas and San Carlos.
In Los Andes, the winner was a coalition called Unidad Victoria Popular, aligned with the governor , and in Rosario de Lerma, the victorious candidate was from the Movimiento Popular Unido (MPU), which is also linked to the PJ.
The FpV won two seats in the Senate, defeating its contenders in La Caldera and la Poma. Meanwhile, the Radical Party (UCR) won a seat in Cafayate and Salta’s Front —led by Senator Juan Carlos Romero — obtained a bench in Molinos. The conservative Renewal Party obtained a seat in Chicoana. Unidad Victoria Popular — aligned with the progressive Libres del Sur — obtained a senator in Cachi.
In the provincial Lower House, the Workers party won in the Capital City, whereas the PJ was victorious in Cachi, Rosario de la Frontera and Chicoana. The FpV won in San Martín, Rivadavia and Iruya. MPU won the elections in Anta and Oran. Romero’s Salta’s Front won in Cafayate and the the Renewal Party was victorious in Metán.
During yesterday’s elections, 30 congressmen were elected and 320 members of local councils in 433 different voting stations deployed throughout the province.
A controversial mayor
Salvador Mazza, a city located 400 kilometres north from the capital city, elected a new mayor after its former leader, Carlos Villalba, was found months ago attending a brothel. That scandal did not prevent him from running yesterday — but he was defeated by Rubén Méndez (FpV), who got 42.9 percent of the vote.
‘We’ll see what’s next’
“I don’t believe in a Peronism without commitment. I believe our party must be committed to a cause. And today, the person who leads our political sector is the president. I believe in Peronism in that sense, identified with a way of thinking,” Urtubey said.
In the national legislative elections of October 27, Governor Juan Manuel Urtubey won two senators for the province, but he came out second in the race for the Lower House.
The young governor did not discard dialogue with dissident Peronist Sergio Massa, but said that in the Peronist Party, “we talk with everyone,” adding that in “Peronism there is room for everyone.”
At times distant and at other times close to the Fernández de Kirchner administration, Urtubey said he plans on “supporting the president’s leadership for the two years that are left.”
“Thereafter, we will see what’s next,” he said when asked about Peronist Party elections.
Asked directly if he was on the list of potential presidential candidates, Urtubey answered: “Yes, but in any case I believe the best thing for Argentina is for everyone to take care of the institutional responsibility each of us has.
The governor was then asked if he saw himself in Salta or Buenos Aires in 2016.
“Who knows, it’s up to the people.”
The governor described a voter turnout of 71 percent yesterday as high. He also defended the newly implemented electronic voting system despite complaints that it slowed down the vote.
“There have always been problems since 1983 with missing ballots, and now there are machine failures,” he said.
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