Five Argentine ministers tender their resignations after electoral defeat

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On Wednesday, September 15, five Argentine cabinet ministers submitted their resignations to the country’s President, Alberto Fernández, in view of the resounding electoral defeat of the ruling party in the legislative primary elections last Sunday.

Those who resigned are the Minister of the Interior, Eduardo “Wado” de Pedro; the Minister of Science and Technology, Roberto Salvarezza; the Minister of Environment, Juan Cabandié; the Minister of Territorial Development and Habitat, Jorge Ferraresi; and the Minister of Culture, Tristan Bauer. All of them are considered part of the Kirchnerist wing of Peronism, led by the former President and current Vice-President, Cristina Fernández.

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The first to publicly announce his resignation was “Wado” de Pedro, who addressed a letter to the Head of State expressing the reasons for his decision.

“Listening to your words on Sunday night, where you raised the need to interpret the verdict expressed by the Argentine people, I have considered that the best way to collaborate with that task is to place my resignation at your disposal,” he said in the missive distributed to the media.

After this request of the Minister of the Interior, new resignations began to be confirmed within the presidential cabinet, which according to the head of Territorial Development and Habitat, Jorge Ferrari, were communicated last Monday.

“On Monday by word of mouth we spoke with the president and in one way or another all the ministers resigned,” Ferraresi assured in a dialogue with Radio con Vos, where he tried to play down the importance of these announcements.

“What must be said is that one’s resignation is signed from the day they assume, the renewal of our management is day by day. Some did it in writing, others did it by word of mouth, but all the ministers had the attitude of communicating to the president that he had our space if he considered so”, he said.

It is still unknown whether or not the President will accept these resignations.

The first elections with Fernández as president were deemed by analysts as a plebiscite on his mandate – marked by the management of the pandemic and the continuity of the recession that began in 2018 – and to rearrange the opposition given the 2023 presidential elections.

According to the provisional count of this Sunday’s elections, the lists of pre-candidates for deputies of the ruling Frente de Todos were the most voted in only 7 of the 24 jurisdictions, compared to the 14 in which the opposition Juntos por el Cambio was the most popular force. At the same time, the Government, with its proposals for the Senate, led in only 2 of the 8 provinces at stake.

Next November 14, 127 of the 257 seats in the Chamber of Deputies will be disputed – no group now has an absolute majority – and 24 of the 72 seats in the Senate, dominated by the ruling party.