Ruling clears path for Cristina Fernández de Kirchner to lead Partido Justicialista

Former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is set to take on the leadership of the Partido Justicialista (PJ), the main party of the opposition Peronist coalition, after a court invalidated the only other challenger’s slate.

The favourable court ruling means Fernández de Kirchner will be rubber-stamped as the PJ’s new leader before the month is out. It will see her take on a more prominent role as one of the leading opponents of President Javier Milei and his government.

Late Thursday, a federal judge ruled that a previous decision by Argentina’s national electoral authorities invalidating the only other competing slate for the upcoming leadership election, topped by La Rioja Governor Ricardo Quintela, should be invalidated.

The ticket failed to submit the necessary endorsements to run in the party's internal elections, according to the ruling released by the press.

Fernández de Kirchner, who served as president from 2007 to 2015 and as vice-president from 2019 to 2023, is as a result the the only candidate in the race to lead the main Peronist party. 

PJ elections are set for November 17, though her leadership could be confirmed beforehand given she is the only candidate.

Fernández de Kirchner, 71, has voiced criticism of President Javier MIlei’s government, slamming his administration’s spending cuts. 

On several occasions the politicians have clashed on social media. The former head of state accused Milei of wanting to kill her when he said in a recent interview that he wanted to put “the last nail in the coffin of Kirchnerism with Cristina Kirchner inside."

Milei later claimed it was a metaphor, but the comment was particularly sensitive, given Fernández de Kirchner survived an assassination attempt in September 2022.

 

– TIMES/AFP