​Alberto Fernández's opening speech at the Congress

ARGENTINA - In Brief 01 Mar 2022 by Esteban Fernández Medrano

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Today, at the opening session of Congress President Alberto Fernández (AF) gave the traditional Address to the Nation, which is always worthwhile analyzing. As usual for such an occasion, AF was accompanied by Vice President Christina Fernández de Kirchner (CFK), in her role as President of the Senate, and by Sergio Massa as President of the Lower House. But although this annual political highlight gathers most of the local political forces, including not only the executive, legislative and judicial powers, but also governors, labor unions, diplomatic representatives, and social organizations, Maximo Kirchner (MK) and some of his followers (so-called "Kirchneristas/Camporistas") skipped the assembly, as they had previously announced. This is a new sign of discomfort aimed at the executive´s negotiations with the IMF, on top of MK´s previous resignation from the presidency of the “Frente de Todos” (FdT) coalition bloc in the Lower House. Maximo Kirchner is trying to position himself to be a presidential candidate, either against Alberto Fernandez in 2023 or the latest in 2027, be it through primary elections of the united Peronist bloc (in FdT) or as a Kirchnerist candidate. But for the time being, polls don’t give him too many hopes that he might have real chances, driving him to take more notable stances, often resembling an opposition candidate against the “conservative” economic team of President Fernández, rather than a key coalition partner. On the bright side for the government, his leftish stance might help FdT not lose votes to the far left. But more on MK in upcoming reports. Regarding the IMF, AF announced that he expects to present the full agreement to Cong...