BUENOS AIRES: Victory Front presidential hopeful refuses to define himself as left- or right-wing
Victory Front (FpV) presidential candidate Daniel Scioli was eager to declare a resounding victory in Sunday’s primaries, when he announced he would travel to China and Russia as part of an international agenda that seeks to portray a presidential image.
Scioli added he will be meeting with Italian Prime Minister Ma-tteo Renzi over the next few days and has plans to sit down with former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva when he comes to the country next month.
In a radio interview, Scioli also mentioned a “visit to China and Russia to ratify agreements” that have been signed with the countries for public works. He also mentioned planned talks with the governments of Ecuador, Mexico, Spain and Germany. And he even expressed hope of improved dialogue with the United States.
The Buenos Aires governor spoke as he celebrated a victory in Sunday’s primaries.
“It’s a triumph we take with a lot of humility, gratitude and commitment,” Scioli said yesterday at a press conference alongside his running-mate, Carlos Zannini. “More than eight million Argentines gave us their support to keep moving forward with the development and jobs agenda.”
Asked by a foreign correspondent on how would he define himself ideologically, since many see him as a centre-right candidate, Scioli replied: “What do you mean by centre, by left, by right-wing? Let’s make this clear: I’m going to do the right thing.”
In an effort to portray his lead as broad as possible, Scioli compared his numbers within the FpV, where he ran unopposed, against those of PRO presidential hopeful Mauricio Macri, who competed in the Let’s Change (Cambiemos) primary. That way, Scioli was able to point out that he won 38.4 percent of the vote compared to Macri’s 24.3 percent. If the comparison were made with the Cambiemos front as a whole, the difference would be a narrower eight percent.
Still, the Buenos Aires province leader stressed that no matter how you choose to count, the facts are the same.
“No matter how you look at it, the only truth is reality,” Scioli said, echoing a famous soundbite by former president Juan Domingo Perón. “And the reality is that we have a big margin over our adversaries,” he added as he was flanked by TV screens that emphasized the FpV successes in the PASO by displaying “14.3 percent — the difference between Daniel Scioli and Mauricio Macri” and “20 out of 24 districts won by Daniel Scioli.” (The only provinces the ruling party lost were Córdoba, Mendoza and San Luis, plus Buenos Aires City.)
Scioli insisted he would renew his efforts and lobby for more votes in the months leading up to the fist round of voting on the October 25 general elections. His campaign would “continue calling for everyone,” he said, and “will work very hard to convince and persuade” those who did not vote for his candidacy on Sunday.
If Sunday’s PASO results were replicated in October, Scioli and the Victory Front’s 38.41 percent over the Let’s Change coalition’s 30.1 percent would fall just short of winning the 40 percent with a 10-point margin necessary to secure the presidency in the first round outright.
If the 2011 primaries are any guide though, the preliminary vote should be seen as a floor for the candidates rather than a ceiling.
As such, the governing FpV and its Scioli-Zannini ticket are expected to redouble their efforts in the interim months in the hope of winning outright and avoiding the runoff scheduled for November.
Praise all around
Fellow FpV allies, many of whom competed in smaller local primaries on Sunday, were eager to heap praise on Scioli’s successes at the PASO.
Cabinet Chief Aníbal Fernández, who beat Lower House Speaker Julián Domínguez to become the FpV gubernatorial candidate for Buenos Aires province in October, looked to a future working alongside one another.
“We will work together for the province of Buenos Aires and the nation,” he said, emphasizing Scioli’s chances in October on Sunday’s successful showing against the Let’s Change coalition. “There was a difference of more than three million votes,” Fernández said.
Provincia Group head Santiago Montoya asked fellow Peronists “to support the most-voted-for Peronist candidate — Scioli.”
On Sunday night, Santa Fe province senatorial candidate Omar Perotti — the big winner of the elections in the key province — had also praised the BA leader, saying his own victory in the district was helping Scioli “to consolidate his bid in Santa Fe.”
“We need to keep working, we might be able to pull off a bigger victory in October,” Perotti concluded.
