Renewal Front leader takes aim at PRO leader for opposing takeover of pension funds
Renewal Front leader Sergio Massa appeared to adopt a new strategy to woo the electorate yesterday, taking aim at PRO party presidential hopeful Mauricio Macri, a key contender in line to succeed President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
In a surprise move, Massa charged Macri with being “a neo-con,” an accusation often made by Kirchnerite leaders, during a televised lunch with TV host Mirtha Legrand.
“The PRO party means neo-conservatism,” Massa insisted, warning that the Buenos Aires City mayor “wants the return of the AFJP (private pension funds), which is very serious.”
Massa was Fernández de Kirchner’s Cabinet chief when the head of state announced a bill, promptly passed by Congress, which resulted in the takeover of private pension funds. PRO lawmakers voted against the measure.
The former Tigre leader, who was joined by his wife Malena Galmarini, also tried to influence the Victory Front (FpV) primary by saying Buenos Aires province Governor Scioli and Interior and Transport Minister Florencio Randazzo “were almost tied” in voter preferences among those expected to vote for Kirchnerite leaders in the August open primaries.
New strategy
This new strategy by Massa makes sense if other recent factors are taken into account.
Earlier yesterday, Clarín newspaper published a poll by the Management & Fit consultancy company which stated that Macri was leading the presidencial race, with 27.9 percent of preferences nationwide. Scioli (23.6 percent) and Massa (18.8 percent) appeared to be further away from the presidential race.
Management & Fit is led by Mar del Plata economist Mariel Fornoni and usually produces polls later published by Clarín, who has been at odds with the CFK administration since 2008.
Yesterday, the daily also published the results of a poll conducted earlier this month by Poliarquía, which also put the PRO party leader at the front. The survey said the centre-right City mayor is already receiving 28 percent of the voters’ preferences, ahead of Scioli (26 percent) and Massa (24 percent).
While Poliarquía is generaly seen as a serious consultancy firm, having the most successful predictions when it comes to elections, results of the surveys conducted by the company led by political analyst Fabián Perechodnik do not hide its centre-right sympathies.
Moreover, the high number of undecided voters makes it impossible to make solid predictions and still suggest a triple tie between Macri, Scioli and Massa.
Against Macri
But Massa seems inclined to believe Macri is his main rival, as they both share an important portion of the opposition electorate.
Yesterday, he criticized the role played by businessman Nicolás Caputo, a close friend of Macri and a major decision-maker inside PRO.
Until last December, Civic Coalition (CC) presidential hopeful Elisa Carrió had been denouncing the PRO chief, but complaints have now ceased, stressed Massa, who wandered about denounces about “Caputo, corruption and gambling” in Buenos Aires.
The former Tigre leader suggested the Carrió-Macri deal, under which both leaders agreed to run against each other in the open primaries, was the reason behind that.
But there is another reason behind his new change of tactic: despite a series of local electoral deals, Macri remains Massa’s main competitor in most districts.
The race against the clock to seal provincial alliances for this year’s election can be explained by the deficits both parties have outside their usually strong territories. Massa is finding trouble expanding his success in Buenos Aires province (where he beat Kirchnerite candidate Martín Insaurralde in the 2013 midterm elections) and Macri has been struggling for years to achieve major victories beyond the General Paz avenue.
With this in mind, both the PRO and the Renewal Front have been trying to “grab” leaders of the ill-fated Broad Front-UNEN, who is coming to pieces only months away before the general elections.
The first major move was made by Massa, who in November signed an accord with Tucumán province’s Radical (UCR) party gubernatorial candidate José Cano. Hours later, PRO Senator Gabriela Michetti shared a similar photo-op with Carrió in BA City — which anticipated the deal between the PRO chief and the firebrand CC lawmaker.
But while the Renewal Front closed deals with frontrunner Radical gubernatorial candidates in Jujuy and Tucumán, Macri shifted his attention to Córdoba and the Cuyo (central-western) region, making strategic partnerships before Massa has a chance.
In Cordóba, Macri is said to almost have an agreement sealed with UCR leaders. He also enjoys the backing of Civic Front Senator Luis Juez, a progressive leader who is doing poorly at the polls. In Chaco province, PRO is in talks with the Radical mayor of Resistencia, Aída Ayala, but talks are also ongoing with Corrientes Governor Ricardo Colombi.
In Neuquén’s capital city, the UCR mayor Horacio “Pechi” Quiroga was joined by Renewal Front lawmakers Felipe Solá and Joaquín de la Torre in his official gubernatorial campaign launch — but sources close to Massa acknowledged that Quiroga was still considering siding with Macri.
Last week, Michetti arrived in Mendoza to announce a deal with Radical leader Alfredo Cornejo, mayor of Godoy Cruz and a key Mendoza gubernatorial hopeful. The PRO senator was joined by UCR Chairman Ernesto Sanz, a conservative Mendoza senator who has been calling for a broader anti-Kirchnerite deal.
But Massa also clinched a deal with Cornejo. Last Thursday, the Renewal Front leader announced he had also reached an accord with the UCR leader, vowing not to present a Mendoza ticket of his own to compete against Cornejo.
Herald staff with online media
buenosairesherald.com