Eduardo 'Wado' De Pedro: President’s decision not to run is ‘necessary for Peronism’

Interior Minister Eduardo ‘Wado’ de Pedro has called on Peronism to refresh and “order” itself ahead of this year’s presidential election.

In the first public remarks by a sitting government official since President Alberto Fernández announced he will not seek re-election in October, De Pedro welcomed the news and said that the ruling coalition needed a new direction.

"It is a necessary step to begin to put Peronism in order, to give it vitality and to dream again," the La Cámpora leader said at a press conference at the headquarters of the Partido Justicialista (PJ) in Santiago del Estero Province.

De Pedro has been tipped as a potential presidential candidate for the ruling coalition, representing the Kirchnerite wing of Frente de Todos. In recent days he had called on Fernández to define his position and if he would run.

Quoting a phrase previously attributed to Vice-President Cristina Fernández de Krichner, his political boss, De Pedro also slammed members of Fernández’s government, criticising “officials who do not work” but without giving names.

Despite trailing in the polls, De Pedro said recently that Frente de Todos could still win the election, though he said a new “alternative” is needed and that the terms of Argentina’s US$44.5-billion debt programme with the International Monetary Fund must be renegotiated.

The Peronist path to victory, for De Pedro, depends on the government’s candidate making it through to the run-off.

"If we go to a run-off with [libertarian Javier] Milei or [opposition hopeful Patricia] Bullrich, there is a chance of winning," the minister said in an interview with Radio El Destape.

– TIMES/PERFIL