The succession war that the PRO (and Together for Change) will have this year in the City of Buenos Aires is only just beginning. It is a district in which they believe that it is almost certain that the candidate who leaves the PASO of Together for Change will remain with the Head of Government, so all the pressure is put on how this internal will be resolved. The Minister of Government, Jorge Macri, restored his relationship with Horacio Rodríguez Larreta after a photo he had taken with Patricia Bullrich and seeks to establish himself as the undisputed candidate of the PRO, although there are several ministers who are still in the race. Larreta did not finish ruling out the option that his successor be María Eugenia Vidal, although she continues to focus on a presidential candidacy. And, from the UCR, Martín Lousteau works to win the internship to whoever is from the PRO, as he intended to do years ago.
The intern had become spicy when Jorge Macri, after a photo with Bullrich, began to receive the cold from Larreta. His Minister of Government already had the support of Mauricio Macri and the president of the PRO, so it became more noticeable that the head of Government did not support him. The president keeps until today from defining himself and says that it will be the people who decide the candidate of the PRO.
Larreta’s hope
This does not prevent her from continuing to explore the idea that Vidal finally declines her presidential candidacy and is the candidate who settles all the discussions in the Buenos Aires district. She convinced her to run in 2021, but in 2023 it looks much more difficult: Vidal continues touring the country and in internal discussions she is seen more and more aligned with the Macri-Bullrich axis. The former Buenos Aires governor has already said publicly that she has no interest in competing for the head of government and that she would like to be president. “Vidal’s option in the City is moved by larretism because Vidal is measuring better than him at the national level,” they mutter in the PRO.
The cousin
If Vidal does not appear on the scene, Jorge Macri feels sure that he will be the candidate. After the bickering, he restored his relationship with the head of government and they reappeared in photos together. However, there are still many candidates left standing. In the environment of the former mayor of Vicente López they consider that this game will continue for a few more months. And that April will be the month of definitions in Buenos Aires candidacies, where many will not reach the goal. His advisers display polls where Jorge Macri is several heads taller than the other candidates. “Not even Fernán Quirós, Soledad Acuña and Emmanuel Ferrario together reach half of Jorge’s intention to vote”, they inflate in the leader’s environment, where they imagine that the definition of the STEP will be between the Minister of Government and Lousteau.
The Challenger
Curiously, in this he agrees with Lousteau. The senator also assumes that the adversary to face in the PASO will be Jorge Macri. “At least until now, no one other than him appears,” they indicate. Despite the versions that he could change his plans and run for the presidency, the fact is that Lousteau is walking the City to be head of Government. It was his original plan: after being close to defeating Larreta, Lousteau asked and was not able to get an intern within Together for Change. He now considers that it is his time. And that, if he defeats the PRO, he will once again give the City Government to radicalism. Something that has not happened since the administration of Fernando de la Rúa.
The favorite
However, the choice is not even close to defined between two candidates. A long list of PRO leaders signed up for Larreta’s succession. Among them, the one who seems to be Larreta’s favorite, his Minister of Health, Fernán Quiros. The official is making his first tours with neighbors, with the idea of consolidating his candidacy. And last week he confirmed his willingness to compete with a letter that he shared on Twitter, where he says that he will seek to follow the legacy of Larreta and Mauricio Macri, despite the fact that the latter does not want him as a candidate and prefers his cousin of the.
Quirós made this move two days after Diego Santilli also ratified his candidacy for Buenos Aires governor through networks, in what sounded like a strategy of launching Larretismo candidates in stages. What would come now, everything indicates, is the launch of Larreta for president. One more mark that, although there are several PRO candidates and the head of government did not vote for any of them, Quirós is the favorite.
And all the rest of the PRO
Running further back is the Minister of Education, Soledad Acuña, who also announced that she will try to fight for the head of government. For this, she sought to raise her profile, both with impressive measures in education (which brought her several controversies), and with positions before the hard electorate of the PRO. For now, she is on hiatus due to her recent maternity, but until the last few days she was on tour. And she will resume activity with the start of classes. Some people imagine it in a formula with one of the other candidates.
And the First Vice President of the Legislature, Emmanuel Ferrario, is also on tour to tour and from meeting to meeting. Recently, he had a photo of him with Maximiliano Ferraro, president of the Civic Coalition. His campaign axis will be renewal. He also brought back to Larreta his idea of adding neighbors to the lists, under the “open lists” program. The head of Government was this week at the presentation of the 400 volunteers of which -through a sort of casting- 32 will remain. Being a young leader, with the approval of both Larreta and Vidal, he can seek to add knowledge in this stage and try your luck later, if the fates are not propitious.
For the moment, the husband of a famous model Roberto García Moritán has not withdrawn his candidacy, which he will try to launch from a profile close to Javier Milei but within Together for Change. If he reaches PASO, he will have to compete with legislator Ramiro Marra, who has the same profile, but from within Libertad Avanza. And perhaps with Ricardo López Murphy, who could venture into the Buenos Aires PASO. For now, Pampita’s husband is not even measured in the surveys of his potential adversaries, which is never, ever a good sign.
