Cristina Fernández de Kirchner runs for vice-president

ARGENTINA - In Brief 20 May 2019 by Esteban Fernández Medrano

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In a very professionally produced video, with a strong emotional language, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (CFK) confirmed this Saturday that she would run in August in the primary election for president with Alberto Fernandez, the former Chief of Cabinet during Nestor Kirchner’s mandate. The surprise was that she asked Alberto Fernandez to run for president while she would run for the vice presidency. For the time being, it is not confirmed if they will try to compete in the PJ primaries as an alternative option, rather than with her party. In light of her recent appearance in PJ meetings, the chances are that she will try.While the political discussion over the last months have been focused on whether she would run or not, i.e. if the traditional PJ would convince her from stepping down (to avoid a problematic second-round vote against Macri where she is still seen loosing), the fact that she decided to run as vice presidential candidate was unexpected. This announcement presents several readings.1) As we stated in previous occasions, stepping down from the presidential race with a “cavalier pact” from the alternative PJ candidates, ensuring legal protection, is very difficult to implement. First of all, because not all alternative opposition candidates are interested in closing a deal with CFK. Such examples are Urtubey o Lavagna. Secondly, even if such pacts are sealed at the time of the elections, any candidate that accepted it to get her approval (and hopefully her votes), could turn his back on her once he is in power. Quite similar to what the Kirchners did to Eduardo Duhlade. 2) The alternative of running as Vice president has the advantage that those independe...