The registration of electoral alliances in the City of Buenos Aires for the May 18 midterms closed at midnight Wednesday, opening up a novel local scenario for the first time in many years.
PRO has been unable to seal a deal with either Radicals or libertarians. Juntos por el Cambio is no more and City Hall will be making a lonely trip to the ballot-boxes. The Radicals have yet to nomínate their candidates but they are keeping their distance from City Mayor Jorge Macri whose predecessor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta is going it alone.
Meanwhile, the Peronists are lining up behind Leandro Santoro with concrete chances of winning against a weakened ruling party, according to the opinion polls.
Rodríguez Larreta objects to PRO’s proximity to President Javier Milei, presenting his own Alliance. Jorge Macri has also been unable to seal any agreement with the UCR Radicals or Coalición Cívica, limited to minor partners like MID, Partido Demócrata, Unir and Encuentro Republicano Federal for his “Buenos Aires Primero” alliance.
The names to head that list could be former City Health minister Fernán Quirós or María Eugenia Vidal but it remains open to speculation. Meanwhile, Rodríguez Larretahas registered the alliance Volvamos Buenos Aires, formed by Partido Federal and Graciela Ocaña’s Confianza Pública.
Rodriguez Larreta had anticipated that he would compete for a Legislature seat following his frustrated presidential bid and his alienation from PRO. It is striking that the Radicals are not joining him with Martín Lousteau recently reproaching “his year-long silence.”
The other ex-members of Juntos por el Cambio, the Unión Cívica Radical and the Partido Socialista of Roy Cortina are presenting the Evolución alliance along with Margarita Stolbizer’s GEN. Lousteau has yet to define whether he will head Evolución. Elisa Carrió’s Coalición Cívica is going it alone with the possible candidacy of Paula Oliveto.
Peronism is more enthusiastic about this dispute than in a long while. Taking full advantage of the rift in the ruling party, their candidate is the ex-Radical of ‘Los Irrompibles,’ Leandro Santoro, who was the Peronist mayoral candidate in 2023. His alliance is called Ahora Buenos Aires, backed by the Justicialist (Peronist) Party (PJ) and factions La Cámpora, NEP (Juan Manuel Olmos) and Peronismo por la Ciudad (Víctor Santamaría) as well as Sergio Massa’s Frente Renovador. Despite this promising outlook, Juan Manuel Abal Medina with Movimiento Evita presented their own list at the last minute.
La Libertad Avanza (LLA), initially threatening “agreement everywhere or nowhere” will finally run without Pro, yet not ruling out an alliance in Buenos Aires Province. After the expulsion of Ramiro Marra it is unclear who would be their best top candidate with some sectors pointing to Manuel Adorni.
Finally, the Frente de Izquierda y de Trabajadores Unidad (FITU) will have current national deputy Vanina Biasi as its main candidate. The alliance is formed by the Partido Obrero, the Movimiento Socialista de los Trabajadores (MST), the Partido de los Trabajadores por el Socialismo (PTS) and Izquierda Socialista.
Copycat controversy
One of the stranger takeaways from the confirmation of alliances was a libertarian copycat controversy.
After registering his details, Buenos Aires City lawmaker Yamil Santoro (Unidos Republicanos) launched the 'Unión Porteña Libertaria' – a new political space with a familiar identity.
Santoro was immediately criticised after it emerged that the logo for his new electoral front is a combination of emblems representing the Peronist Unión por la Patria coalition and PRO, from which the lawmaker hails.
Responding to the criticism, the lawmaker told news agencies that the logo is “official” and his party is “already registered” to compete in the City’s elections, to be held on 18 May.
“It is an autonomous logo, product of the sum of a multiplicity of ideas and the urgency of the closing of alliances,” Santoro told Noticias Argentinas.
He described the space as a home for “porteños who want a more austere City Government, with fewer regulations, with more security and public order; and the freedom to invest and progress.”
Peronist and PRO politicians unhappy with the controversy have vowed to challenge Santoro’s new party logo in the courts.
– TIMES/NA/PERFIL
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