Former president Cristina Fernández Kirchner said Monday that she will stand as a candidate in the Buenos Aires Province elections on September 7, confirming a return to frontline politics and, potentially, immunity from her corruption problems.
Fernández de Kirchner, 72, told the C5N news channel, in her first interview in a year, that she would run for a seat in the region’s legislative elections, representing the third electoral section of Buenos Aires Province — a key political and demographic stronghold.
Located in southern Greater Buenos Aires, the third electoral section is home to some four million voters and includes Avellaneda, Berazategui, Ezeiza, Lanús, Lomas de Zamora and La Matanza, which accounts for 40 percent of the vote alone.
Fernández de Kirchner has traditionally enjoyed strong support in the region, particularly among working-class sectors.
Asked if she planned to run, the ex-president said: “Yes, and I’ve said it in several meetings.” She framed the election as vital for the Peronist movement, the main opposition to Milei’s government. This will be her first candidacy since stepping down as vice-president in 2023.
Without naming him, Fernández de Kirchner also implicitly questioned Buenos Aires Province Governor Axel Kicillof and the decision to split the national and provincial votes.
“The province has been governed by alfonsinistas, menemistas, duhaldistas, kirchneristas and macristas, and it was never split before,” complained the ex-president.
“It’s a very large province: 135 municipalities and 17 million people who’ll now have to vote for provincial and national deputies seven weeks apart,” she said, referring to the provincial elections on September 7 and the national legislative vote on October 26.
Justifying her candidacy, she added: “You have to go where you’re most useful at the right time, and bet on the collective project moving forward.”
“If Peronism performs badly, how will that radiate through the rest of the country?” she asked. “The Third Section is underrepresented, like all of Greater Buenos Aires.”
"Does anyone believe that if Peronism doesn't do well in September, in the bastion of Peronism, we can do well in October?"
Buenos Aires Province, spanning 307,571 square kilometres and home to more than 17.5 million people, is the most populated and politically significant region in Argentina.
Fernández de Kirchner rose to national prominence alongside her late husband, Néstor Kirchner, who served as president from 2003 to 2007, before she took office for two consecutive terms from 2007 to 2015.
She later returned to executive office as vice-president from 2019 to 2023 and currently chairs the Partido Justicialista.
‘Marginal’
Fernández de Kirchner reserved her harshest rebukes for President Javier Milei. Describing the country’s current state as “somewhat esoteric,” she witheringly said that Milei’s government had “moved from a currency clamp to a salary clamp.”
She condemned the administration’s fiscal cuts targeting “state sectors that have always behaved exemplarily, such as the Garrahan [Children’s] Hospital” in Buenos Aires City.
“This is a right-wing government with no plan — a cruel and somewhat esoteric right,” she declared.
Referring to Milei specifically, Fernández de Kirchner branded him “marginal.”
The ex-president also called for an “urgent” constitutional reform at the national level to establish a single vote “every four years.”
She criticised the decision by Buenos Aires City Mayor Jorge Macri to split the capital’s vote on May 18, calling it a “huge mistake” that left PRO in “third place” in the city.
“The Peronists did a good job thanks to a unified ticket,” she said of the list headed by Leandro Santoro, which secured 27 percent of the vote and came second.
Throughout the interview, Fernández de Kirchner remained firm in her critique of the La Libertad Avanza government, labelling it “very cruel” and “anti-state.”
“This government started with the promise of dollarisation,” she recalled. “Neoliberal projects bring out the worst in human nature.”
Her plan to run for office, however, could still be derailed. She was convicted in 2022 on corruption charges and handed a six-year prison sentence along with a lifetime ban from holding public office.
The former president denies the allegations and claims she is the victim of “political and judicial persecution.” Her appeal is now before the Supreme Court, which is expected to rule on the matter this year.
If elected, Fernández de Kirchner would gain parliamentary immunity, protecting her from ongoing legal proceedings.
– TIMES/NA/AFP
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