Sáenz projects a new term in Salta but flirts with becoming a national player

Gustavo Sáenz has decided to run for reelection in Salta, but he is also flirting with playing a national role The governor of Salta, Gustavo Sáenz, has a roadmap designed. It may undergo modifications. Detours, reconsiderations, unforeseen obstacles. He is determined to seek his second reelection in order to try to begin his third term. He has not yet made it official, but that is what he is thinking. He has been at the head of the Executive Branch since 2019 and has consolidated significant territorial power, absorbing a sector of Peronism and, this year, taking over the formal leadership of the Salta PJ. Sáenz has definitively distanced himself from the hard core of justicialismo. During Javier Milei's three years in government, he was a tactical ally, moving his chips in Congress to support, on several occasions, the requests of the Casa Rosada. That closeness was interrupted during the election year, when the libertarians promised him they would not put up a candidate in the city of Salta and, in the final stretch of the negotiation, decided to plant one who, sponsored by Senator María Eugenia Orozco, ended up winning the election. They did not honor the agreement, but everything continued on its course. The main obstacle the Salta governor may face in his reelection plans centers on Article 140 of the Constitution of Salta, which was amended by the Constituent Convention, at Sáenz's own initiative, in 2021, in the middle of his first term. The article, which allowed the governor to be reelected twice and thus complete three consecutive terms, was amended and imposed a limit on reelections. From then on, the governor of Salta can only be reelected once. That is, to lead two terms. The Salta governor gave his book as a gift to President Javier Milei during his trip to France to take part in the Argentina Week París event The key to the discussion lies in the fact that Sáenz began his first term under the original constitution, while his second period began under the completed reform. Therefore, it can be interpreted that his second term counts as the first, and the one he would attempt to start in 2027 would be the second. In that way, he would reach three terms, but divided between two different stages of the Constitution. Opponents consider that this stretches the interpretation of the Constitution too far and violates the principle of alternation. Moreover, there are those who understand that, by limiting terms during his first period, the general rules of the law also apply to him. In recent years, the Supreme Court has ruled against the various interpretations regarding reelections. It happened in Tucumán with Juan Manzur, in San Juan with Sergio Uñac, and in Santiago del Estero with Gerardo Zamora. It has always shown its rejection of interpretive loopholes. However, nobody knows the final word with certainty. Each case has its own specificity, so the comparison has nuances, but there is a uniform stance of the highest court on the interpretations of provincial constitutions that is unfavorable to the ambitions of ruling parties. In any case, for the moment, that is a latent threat from opposition sectors, both inside and outside Peronism, which could become a reality once he formally announces his candidacy. The governor of Salta built a political partnership with his counterparts Osvaldo Jaldo and Raúl Jalil, of Tucumán and Catamarca, respectively Sáenz is determined to compete, but he still does not have a clear picture of the electoral landscape he may encounter. He has a very fluid channel of communication with the Chief of Staff, Diego Santilli, where talks about governance, legislative requests, and electoral needs intersect. The Casa Rosada has already given some signals that it has no great interest in putting up competitive candidates to win the provincial elections. They are more interested in legislative lists than in governorships. The priority is to maintain the alliances and ensure a year-end without too many setbacks, with the Budget and the political reform approved. The greatest effort is aimed at suspending the PASO primaries, and the ruling party seems to be getting closer and closer to achieving it. The governor's main rival in Salta is María Emilia Orozco, a national senator and the leading figure of La Libertad Avanza (LLA) in the northern province. The legislator was the visible head of the campaign that ended with a surprising libertarian victory in the capital city and intends to compete for the governorship next year. She is also the main critic of the provincial government and the driving force behind the libertarians' growth in the province. In Salta, Milei has good approval ratings, although they have been declining steadily in recent months. At the Casa Rosada, they say the strategy in the province will be defined later and in agreement with Orozco, who, with many of her interventions, has generated short circuits between the governor and Milei's inner circle, with which she has an open dialogue. In any case, and in line with the action plan of sustaining the strategy of alliances with the governors, today it seems difficult for the Government to put together a solid candidacy to try to unseat the governor of Salta. Governors Raúl Jalil, Osvaldo Jaldo, Carlos Sadir, Gustavo Sáenz, Hugo Passalacqua, Rolando Figueroa, and Alberto Weretilneck are the group of governors who have been discussing how to put together a new electoral front Since the Milei era began, Sáenz has alternated between criticism of and support for the Government. Three weeks ago, he fired heavy ammunition when he stated that "loyalty is a two-way street, but I feel that the governors always come this way and they never go there, to the interior." Two weeks later, he was invited by Milei to travel to the Argentina Week event, held in Paris. There were embraces with the President and a willingness to listen to the Government's spokespeople on French soil. "I am very worried that people want to return to the past, but they are also not satisfied with the present. It becomes very difficult to discuss Milei or Cristina. Investments are not arriving because we do not inspire confidence in the world, because everyone threatens to go back to square one," he said in an interview with América 24 at the end of September. An attempt to walk the middle path Within that statement lies one of his desires. The governor of Salta has in his head the idea of building a national candidacy. He does not say it in public, but he does analyze it in private. Far from the Peronist wing of the province, which is currently led by Juan Manuel Urtubey, and without clear intentions of joining the Government's violet ballot, Sáenz is one of the governors discussing the formation of a third position for 2027. Gustavo Sáenz has completed two terms at the head of the Executive Branch of Salta As Infobae reported a couple of weeks ago, there is a group of eight governors who have been discussing for some time the idea of building an alternative that breaks the poles of the PJ and LLA. That political network has no possible candidates yet, and the governor from Salta, who has the will to play on the national stage, could be an option. But he is also clear that the first step he must take is to defend and solidify his leadership in the province. Beyond whether or not he ends up being a national candidate, Sáenz plans to raise his profile and take his vision of the country to different provinces. The tool for doing so will be the presentation of his book "Federalismo y progreso. Charlas sobre el pasado, presente y futuro de la Argentina" ("Federalism and Progress: Talks on the Past, Present, and Future of Argentina"), which was published a handful of days ago and which he gave to the President during his stay in Paris. The governor of Salta has long repeated that in an election year there must be a "logical project," one that escapes the poles and offers the electorate another alternative. Sáenz believes that a political option that contains Kirchnerism would mean returning to the past, but that the Government fails to clearly realize that macroeconomic ordering alone is not enough to carry out governance. Neither one thing nor the other. The Governor has presidential ambitions. In his heart, he dares to believe he could be a potential candidate of a centrist option. But there are still several months ahead and countless political events that could turn the electoral board upside down.