The National Council of the Justicialist Party (PJ), in a brief meeting yesterday evening headed by President Alberto Fernández, set the date of the party congress for next May 16 at the micro-stadium of the Buenos Aires club Ferro Carril Oeste to define its electoral strategy.

Fernández, who arrived at 6.15 p.m., presided over the meeting in his capacity as head of the National Council on the first floor of the historic PJ headquarters, at 130 Matheu St. in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Balvanera, while other leaders participated via Zoom.

The meeting lasted for half an hour. At the end, Buenos Aires Governor Kicillof announced the date of the congress in an impromptu press conference.

“It was a very good meeting to comply with the legal requirements of the party and to advance in the electoral reorganization”, he said.

The meeting took place almost two months before the deadline to present the lists of candidates for this year’s primary elections, and after the announcement made Friday morning by Fernandez that he would not run for reelection, which accelerated the process of negotiations within the ruling Frente de Todos coalition, of which the PJ is a major party.

A source within the Presidency said that Fernández “will be in charge of the PASO and the electoral process”.

The meeting’s attendees included:

• Cristina Álvarez Rodriguez, Buenos Aires Province’s Minister of Government
• Agustín Rossi, Chief of Staff
• Axel Kicillof, Buenos Aires Province governor 
• Eduardo “Wado” De Pedro, Interior Minister 
• Santiago Cafiero, Foreign Minister 
• Julio Vitobello, Secretary General of the Presidency
• Victoria Tolosa Paz, Social Development Minister
• Jorge Taiana, Defense Minister
• Eduardo Valdés, national deputy for Buenos Aires City
• Juan Manuel Olmos, Vice Chief of Staff
• Adjunct Secretary General of General Confederation of Labour (CGT) Andrés Rodríguez
• Víctor Santa María, President of the PJ’s Buenos Aires City branch and trade unionist
• Guillermo Oliveri, Secretary of worship
• Hugo Yasky, National Deputy and Secretary General of the Argentine Workers’ Central (CTA)
• Fernando Navarro, Secretary for Civil Society Relations and Community Development and director of the Movimiento Evita social movement 
• Sergio Berni, Buenos Aires Province security minister 
• Gustavo Menéndez, former mayor of Merlo and head of Grupo Provincia bank

–Télam