Solanas, Stolbizer take on Carrió for her ‘destructive personality,’ eagerness to sign up PRO
Only hours after launching a non-Peronist alliance that is seeking to succeed President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in 2015, leaders of the newly created UNEN-Broad Front illustrated just how difficult it may be to keep such a disparate array of politicians united under a large umbrella.
The political leaders continued spitting fire at each other over the possibility of joining the PRO party led by Mauricio Macri and their respective popularity at the grass roots level.
“Some leaders are talking about signing a deal with the right wing just to get two extra votes, but Macri is not even talking about us,” GEN lawmaker Margarita Stolbizer complained yesterday.
Along the same lines, Project South lawmaker Fernando “Pino” Solanas said he would not allow deals with political parties “that blur the profile of the UNEN-Broad Front” launched on Tuesday.
“We need to be consistent with our own ideas and all the voters who trusted us. We cannot betray, we cannot confuse voters,” Solanas wrote on his Twitter account.
Among candidates who back a potential alliance with PRO are Civic Coalition (CC) head Elisa Carrió and Radical (UCR) leaders Julio Cobos and Oscar Aguad.
Minutes after Solanas’ remarks, Carrió sent a thinly veiled response through the same medium.
“I’m very grateful for the trust society has granted me, I found it quite difficult to convince my voters to vote for Pino, but the country deserves the effort,” Carrió said sarcastically.
Carrió acknowledged she would not vote for the PRO leader for president next year, but made it clear that building a political alliance like the one presented this week takes sacrifices.
“I wouldn’t vote for Macri but the people are entitled to cast their vote for him if they want to,” the three-time presidential candidate told Radio Mitre.
Non-Peronist leaders should “learn to sacrifice” to play up unity before the 2015 elections, Carrió added.
But Stolbizer believes the former centre-left ARI party leader — who now defines herself as a “centrist” — is a “difficult” figure who permanently endangers political alliances.
“I’m sorry if many people who have betrayed others say that I destroy political alliances,” Carrió replied.
Carrió and Stolbizer share old resentments from the times of the Social Civic Accord (ACyS), the political front under which CC-ARI, Socialism, UCR and GEN party leaders ran as candidates in 2009. The alliance performed well at the polls but its members fell out soon after.
Stolbizer, a former Buenos Aires province gubernatorial candidate, said discussions over the need — or not — to sign a deal with PRO “only benefits Macri” and that the ideological profile of the Buenos Aires City mayor is evident in his administration.
They love me, they love me not
But divisions over such an alliance continued yesterday, as UNEN lawmaker Martín Lousteau did not rule out the possibility of Macri joining the front at some point in the future.
“UNEN is a collective political organization with no owners and a lot of representatives, where people decide who’s the most important through elections,” Lousteau told Radio del Plata.
According to Lousteau, Macri will not need “to decide where to stand if he does not want to disappear” from the political arena, referring to the fact that the Buenos Aires City mayor has stepped down twice from the presidential race, opting for easier wins in the nation’s capital instead.
Socialist leader Hermes Binner made it clear Macri was not a part of the alliance and that the issue “was never discussed” nor there was “any specific request” from Macri or other PRO officials related to such inclusion. Hours earlier, Binner said he was tired of talking about Macri, echoing comments made earlier in the week by several Radical leaders.
Meanwhile, Macri celebrated yesterday the launch of the opposition electoral seal.
“I think what happened (on Tuesday) was great. Everything that has to do with building, proposing, being willing to talk… that’s what Argentines expect,” the mayor said during an event in a City’s child care centre.Former caretaker president Eduardo Duhalde also praised the new front.
“They’ll fare well at the polls, especially considering the divisions in the Peronist party,” Duhalde said. In that sense, the head of the 2002-2003 national administration said this wide front only stressed the need for Buenos Aires province Governor Daniel Scioli and Renewal Front head Sergio Massa to also join forces before the 2015 presidentials.
Herald with DyN, Télam