Scioli: too soon to discuss 2015

Buenos Aires province Governor Daniel Scioli stated yesterday that it was “too soon” to discuss presidential candidacies for 2015, and described his political style as “non-confrontational.”

“The people know that, above all, I am reliable and that I do not lie,” said the governor, in an interview published by society magazine Gente yesterday. Scioli also shied away from discussing polls which suggested him as a possible candidate for elections in 2015, stating that these “are numbers, not certainties.”

The governor also extolled the virtues of late former president Néstor Kirchner, whom he described as “the most hard-working” head of state Scioli had ever met.

The governor recognized that Kirchner’s death in October, 2010, had been a “terrible blow.”. “(Kirchner) generated a profound change. Néstor believed in diversity, not in unified thought,” said the governor.

Scioli also used the interview to express his distaste for political disputes, adding that he only sought to fight “when we have to fight, for example, over drugs.”

“I collaborate, not confront. Let this be clear: from a political and human perspective, I am always the same Daniel,” said the governor.

However, Scioli did refer to recent confrontations with the national government over federal revenue-sharing, stating that the provincial finances “will not be the same” after the Cristina Fernández de Kirchner administration’s announcement last week that municipalities would receive direct financing.

“What is important is that the people are served,” said the governor. “Maybe the municipalities will be able to solve their problems thanks to this decision, although we shall have to see how they spend the money.”

Buenos Aires Lieutenant-Governor Gabriel Mariotto yesterday rejected Scioli’s discussion of presidential candidacies for 2015 as “irresponsible.”

Herald with DyN, Ambito.com