sciolismo al palo, al taco o a la tabla

Argentina’s Scioli to Run With or Without Fernandez, Perez Says (a que no)

by Daniel Cancel

1:34 PM BRT March 10, 2015

Scioli, 58, is the best-prepared candidate to run Argentina after serving two terms as governor of the country’s most populous province, Francisco Perez, governor of Mendoza province, said in an interview. Another potential pro-government candidate, Interior Minister Florencio Randazzo, has almost no support outside the capital, he said. Fernandez, who isn’t eligible to run again, hasn’t publicly endorsed anyone.

“It’s a possibility, it’s her political decision, I don’t know what will happen,” Perez said about whether Fernandez will tap Scioli as her main candidate ahead of the ruling alliance’s primaries in August. “He’s expressed to me his strength and determination to continue regardless.”

The October presidential election will mark the end of 13 years of rule by the Kirchner family after Fernandez succeeded her husband, Nestor Kirchner, in 2007. More than a decade of growth in South America’s second-biggest economy has stalled amid a myriad of currency exchange rates due to capital controls and inflation above 20 percent. Scioli, who was vice president under Kirchner, would return to a single exchange rate for the peso and work to slow inflation by promoting investment, Perez said.

‘We’ve Plateaued’

“We’ve come off years of transformations and growth but in the past two years, due to international and domestic economic factors, we’ve plateaued,” Perez, 47, said in his Mendoza office. “I personally think there are too many candidates in the primaries.”

Officials in Randazzo’s press office didn’t respond to calls and e-mails from Bloomberg News seeking comment. Scioli press officials didn’t immediately respond to a telephone message or e-mail seeking comment.

Perez, who has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential candidate for Scioli, said he has no specific aspirations after his term as governor ends this year beyond helping Scioli. Perez spoke after the province’s annual wine harvest festival, which drew 40,000 visitors to the arid region bordering Chile. The area is full of signs supporting Scioli.

In a national survey by Raul Aragon & Asociados asking voters who they would pick in a presidential primary, Scioli led Randazzo among likely ruling-party candidates with 13.2 percent compared with 8.3 percent. The survey of 3,000 people was published March 3 and had a margin of error of 1.8 percentage points.

Public Appearances

In recent months Fernandez, 62, has appeared with Randazzo at events to inaugurate train cars brought from China while Scioli has attended her events on stage in Buenos Aires province.

“Randazzo has criticized his political adversaries and it hasn’t worked for him,” Perez said. “His popularity is practically nonexistent in the interior of the country.”

Mauricio Macri, the opposition mayor of Buenos Aires city who has led recent opinion polls for the first time, doesn’t have the experience or nationwide alliances to run Argentina, Perez said. Officials in Macri’s press office didn’t return calls and e-mails seeking comment on the race.

“If6 Macri hasn’t been able to control the candidates in his own internal primaries in the party, how is he going to run Argentina?” he said. “There will be constant social conflicts if he wins.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Cancel in Buenos Aires atdcancel@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Philip Sanders atpsanders@bloomberg.net Bill Faries, Randall Woods.