a blow to his government

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Juan Schiaretti bet on his electorate, especially in Córdoba, but he also looked at the rest of the national scene. The defeat of Horacio Rodríguez Larreta at the hands of Patricia Bullrich, in the Juntos por el Cambio internship, was a severe setback for the aspirations of the governor and presidential candidate to participate in a future “government of national unity.”

During the campaign for the primaries, Schiaretti continued to support the possibility of an opposition agreement for after the October elections, thinking of an eventual second round of elections.

He hoped that a triumph of the Buenos Aires head of government would keep him as a protagonist on the national stage.

In this sense, the governor considered himself the architect of this proposal to generate the next broad national government, with the exception of Kirchnerism.

Although he could not admit it in the campaign for the Paso, the now Cordoba presidential candidate had a tacit agreement with Larreta, which yesterday the polls were in charge of leaving within the limits of good intentions.

In the first days of June of last year, Larreta, Schiaretti, the radical Gerardo Morales and the liberal José Luis Espert admitted that they were talking to build an opposition “front of fronts”.

That proposal had been made public by the provincial president himself a week earlier, during a meeting with the leadership of the Argentine Industrial Union (UIA).

It was evident that Schiaretti whitewashed before the businessmen a plan that he had already discussed with the Buenos Aires head of government.

It is known that a large opposition front was frustrated by the fierce internal opposition of Patricia Bullrich, Luis Juez and, above all, Mauricio Macri.

Bullrich’s triumph in the internal wrestling of Together for Change buried that proposal. Now, for Schiaretti, another story begins.

“Helpful Vote”

At last night’s ceremony, without euphoria, Schiaretti maintained that Javier Milei’s victory was a “rant vote” against the national government.

The presidential candidate also said that today he will start his campaign for the general elections on October 22, with two inaugurations of his provincial administration.

From their environment they admitted that now Schiaretti is starting “another campaign” with a view to that objective.

The schiarettistas recognize that what lies ahead will be a steep climb. The governor must have a strategy to counteract the “useful vote.”

“The three main presidential candidates (Milei, Bullrich and Sergio Massa) can take away our votes. Our bet will continue to be to add two new seats in the Chamber of Deputies”, described one of the Peronists who accompanies Schiaretti in the national campaign.

The 27.5% that Schiaretti obtained in the province puts him on the brink of getting three seats in the Lower House.

But the cold numbers do not say everything. Even the most optimistic schiarettistas acknowledge that it will be “almost impossible” for the provincial president to retain the 563,000 votes he garnered yesterday, by facing three candidates who have concrete chances of reaching the Casa Rosada.

Schiaretti’s arduous task, between now and October 22, will be to fight against the “useful vote”, more than against the other presidential candidates.

The governor left no doubt that he will compete in October. There is no possibility of a political agreement with the other applicants who remained in the race for the succession of Alberto Fernández.

As has been said, Schiaretti only spoke with Rodríguez Larreta in recent times. In his speech, and later in his statements, he confirmed last night that he sees himself far from Milei, whom he congratulated, but identified as the angry vote against Kirchnerism and Together for Change. Nor are there any chances of dialogue with Massa, the Kirchnerist candidate.

With Patricia Bullrich, the Cordovan governor never had an affinity. He always branded her as the protagonist of the crack.

Behind the now presidential candidate of Together for Change, is Macri. In recent times, Schiaretti and the former president have been separated by a rift, using the language of the Cordovan president.

Schiaretti’s approach to Rodríguez Larreta took into account that he, in addition to seeking to win the presidential candidacy of Together for Change, was also trying to “retire” Macri.

The distance between Schiaretti and Macri is concrete, but it would not be necessary to bet that it is definitive. The October result is missing to know who will reach a possible second round.

In this scenario, if Bullrich is one of the protagonists, perhaps a possibility of negotiation with Schiaretti will appear, and also with Martín Llaryora, his confirmed successor.

Of course, Bullrich and Macri have already marked the limits of a possible agreement with other spaces: it will be in the National Congress, without resigning places in an eventual new national government. Macri and Bullrich do not believe in a unity government, the political project that Schiaretti nurtured in recent months and which yesterday suffered a severe setback at the polls. The people voted en masse for a candidate who preaches anti-politics.