The head of the Unión por la Patria bloc of deputies, Germán Martínez, referred to the upcoming debate in the National Congress on the bill to eliminate the PASO primaries. He also stated that the Peronist internal dispute does not interest society and left a reflection on Pope Leo XIV's visit to the country: "His message has to reach the people."
In dialogue with Romina Manguel on Radio Splendid, the deputy first emphasized how he views the Government and asserted that "there is no axis on which it is winning the agenda." "It is not winning on the economic front, it is not winning on the social front, it is not winning in the parliamentary arena, it is not winning on any front," he said.
Following this, he referred to the bill promoted by the Executive Branch to eliminate the primary elections next year, in the context of the presidential elections, and emphasized: "We not only think it is an element that plays in favor of democratic life. It doesn't only serve Peronism. You see what is happening within the government and you don't find anything very orderly either. But I'm not going to get involved or pontificate about others."
"The Government is obsessed with eliminating the PASO primaries because it feels it doesn't win any runoff. So what does it want? To generate, by any means, a situation where it can win with forty points and a ten-point diffe...
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Germán Martínez analyzed the Peronist internal politics and the debate over eliminating the PASO primaries
The head of the Unión por la Patria bloc of deputies, Germán Martínez, referred to the upcoming debate in the National Congress on the bill to eliminate the PASO elections. He also stated that the Peronist internal dispute does not interest society and left a reflection on Pope Leo XIV's visit to the country: "His message has to reach the people."
In a conversation with Romina Manguel on Radio Splendid, the deputy first emphasized how he views the Government and asserted that "there is no axis on which it is winning the agenda."
"It is not winning on the economic front, it is not winning on the social front, it is not winning on the parliamentary front, it is not winning on any front," he said.
Following this, he referred to the bill promoted by the Executive Branch to eliminate the primary elections next year, in the context of the presidential elections, and stressed: "We not only think it is an element that plays in favor of democratic life. It does not only serve Peronism. You see what is happening within the government and you don't find anything very orderly there either. But I'm not going to get involved or pontificate about others."
The head of the Unión por la Patria bloc defended the continued existence of the PASO primaries as a tool in favor of democratic life (REUTERS/Matias Baglietto)
"The Government is obsessed with eliminating the PASO primaries because it feels it won't win any runoff. So what does it want? To generate, by any means, a situation where it can win with forty points and a ten-point lead. And on any occasion — what the government doesn't know is that we will always have a coordinated and unified proposal and that we are going to win in the first round," he pointed out.
All of this comes after, during two months of silence, the chairman of the Constitutional Affairs Committee, Agustín Coto, called for a meeting next Tuesday, November 17, starting at 3:00 p.m. in the Arturo Illia Hall, to debate the bill whose main focus is the elimination of the Open, Simultaneous and Mandatory Primaries (PASO), but which also includes other aspects such as, for example, opening up to private capital for electoral financing and the elimination of presidential debates.
However, Martínez also spoke about the Peronist internal dispute and the contest over who will be the presidential candidate of the main opposition space to the Government. Along those lines, given the impossibility of Cristina Kirchner being a candidate, he stated: "There is a current of enormous support and solidarity with her, and where we also know that we have to face next year's electoral process under these conditions."
"One does not do politics in a vacuum; one does politics in a here and now. The here and now is this situation, which I don't like and which I am working to change, so that all possibilities are open and so that Peronism as a whole can resolve the situation," he added.
And he specified: "People are not thinking about our internal discussions. This conversation doesn't exist when you go around Argentina. This is a discussion among informed insiders and journalists. Nobody else. Society is not thinking about that; it has no time to devote energy to that."
Martínez acknowledged that Peronism must face the electoral process given the impossibility of a Cristina Kirchner candidacy
Furthermore, he emphasized: "I am convinced that we are going to win, because everything I am telling you is what will generate a situation of confidence in our political proposal. I believe that today societies have very high levels of complexity, where there are those who support you because they don't like Milei, those who support you because they like your proposal, those who support you because they like your candidates, those who support you because they have historically supported Peronism on certain things. There are an enormous number of elements on the table and we have to make all of that converge into a competitive proposal that wins the election."
Finally, he referred to what Pope Leo XIV's visit left behind and stated that the Supreme Pontiff "is neither mine nor the others'." Regarding the message left by his trip to Argentina, he indicated that it is "extremely interesting to be able to make it dialogue with the daily life of Argentines."