Cristina Kirchner announced her withdrawal from the Argentine presidential elections and blames the debt and inflation. “I will not be a puppet of those in power,” adds the vice president.
The current vice president and former president of Argentina (2007-2015) Cristina Kirchner announced that she will not run for president in the October elections, after the resignation of the head of state, Alberto Fernández.
“An important part of the citizenry does not feel represented or contained in their aspirations, in a democracy that is economically lost, socially degraded and that is beginning to decline politically and institutionally,” Kirchner said.
In a text published on social networks, the vice president blamed the debt with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the situation of high inflation, currency devaluation and poverty that Argentina is going through.
Kirchner also referred to the “condemnation and disqualification” from holding public office that he received from a court in December and which, in his opinion, has a “unique political and electoral translation: the prohibition” to run for the Argentine presidency.
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The former president was sentenced to six years in prison and perpetual disqualification from holding public office for irregularities in the concession of works, a sentence that is not yet final.
“I will not be a puppet of those in power in favor of any candidacy. I demonstrated, like nobody else, that I give priority to the collective project over personal ambitionsKirchner said.
The decision was announced the same day that the 70-year-old leader missed the national congress in which the Justicialista Party sought to advance the strategy for the presidential elections in October. With the president and vice president out of the race, all eyes are now on center-right Finance Minister Sergio Massa, who has long had presidential ambitions.
At the end of April, President Alberto Fernández announced that he will not seek re-election on the October ballot: “On December 10, I will hand over the presidential sash to whoever has been elected at the polls by popular vote.”
“In these times, more than in others, we need to revitalize ourselves,” said the head of state.
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Despite the differences he has with Cristina Kirchner and the division in his government between sympathizers of the two factions, Fernández said that “apart from internal criticism and the greater or lesser support received”, he does not have “a single opponent” in the Front . of All, which supports the Executive.
Alberto Fernández assumed power on December 10, 2019 and will hand over the presidential sash on the same day in 2023, when Argentina celebrates 40 years of uninterrupted parliamentary democracy after the last military dictatorship (1976-1983).
Source: Observadora
