The National Party came to government thanks to the support of four more parties that, in the second round, added their voters to Luis Lacalle Pou: it was the best strategy they formulated to beat the former Frente Amplio candidate, Daniel Martínez, who wanted to be the fourth leftist president of the history of Uruguay.
When the government reaches the middle of the term, the names of candidates are beginning to sound through the nationalist corridors for weeks. The former candidate for the Municipality of Montevideo, Laura Raffo, assured that her name “sounds” for 2024 and she defined herself as a “leader” within her political force.
Raffo does not have any popular election position, after his failed attempt to govern the capital commune (despite having the support of the five parties of the multicolored coalition), but was elected internally as president of the PN Departmental. From there, she gets microphones and platforms to speak on behalf of the political force, and her image is constantly present in the media.
“I consider myself an articulator. No driver, because each party has its leadership and its authorities (…) I consider that I am an article and that I encourage there to be a union. And I want to keep the fire burning for the coalition in Montevideo,” said the economist and former television commentator in an interview with the newspaper The country at the beginning of June.
Raffo does not feel identified with any sector, and classifies herself as a “humanist”, “perhaps because of the training I had, because I went to the French Lyceum, and the French are very fond of putting the human being at the center”.
Regarding her political future, she commented: “I am aware that my name sounds and that means that I have generated a reputation for work, for working well, and that I have become a leader within the party. And it seems barbaric to me, that’s fine, I will never deny that. I’m lovin ‘it”.
On June 27, a statement was released with a headline that generated some rudeness from one of those mentioned, the secretary of the Presidency, Álvaro Delgado, according to a note from The country. “Main leaders of Álvaro Delgado will meet with the secretary of the Presidency to show their support for a possible candidacy,” the document read.
The media indicates that he was able to know that the meeting had been organized for a long time and that it had been set for Tuesday the 28th, but when the statement reached Delgado’s eyes, he called Deputy Pedro Jisdonian to reproach him for being considered as a pre-candidate from now on. “Talk about what you have to talk about, but not about my candidacy: I am dedicated to governing,” the executive chief reportedly told the legislator.
The white mayor of Montevideo, Diego Rodríguez, who is a reference for the youth of List 404 (the one from Lacalle Pou) that the meeting was intended to make it clear that the new sector perceives itself as “the backbone of Álvaro Delgado” for 2024.
Delgado has already expressed, like Argimón, that he does not see it prudent that they are already discussing pre-candidacies, understanding that it is very early. A similar position is held by the president of the PN, Pablo Iturralde, and the Minister of Defense, Javier García, who have expressed similar things.
Argimón and Delgado do not want to be candidates… yet
The high-profile figure who is also debated in the nationalist leadership is Beatriz Argimón, vice president of the Republic and president of the Senate (former president of the party). She is already promoted by Futuro Nacional, a fairly new group that is finishing up in 2022; they seek to have a national scope and for Argimón to be their central reference.
According to published the newspaper The Observer in December of last year, Futuro Nacional seeks to find “a style” of doing things and an “opening look” of the PN. The media cited sources that reported that there are leaders from Salto, Paysandú, Canelones, Treinta y Tres and Maldonado who had already approached Argimón to start shaping something more concrete. “Surely, from 2022 the institutionality” of the group will be given, a source told the newspaper.
A couple of weeks earlier, the vice president had said in another interview that “This is not the time to start talking about candidacies”and finished: “I started with and I will end with the president.”
With less force, the name of the Minister of Social Development, Martín Lema, has been heard, and he already has his own group called Miremos Lejos: this youth group was created precisely to give the chief an accolade and, as he says on his Twitter account , “It was born out of the concern of a group of young people to find their own space where they could be active, build a long-term project that identifies us and a leader that represents us far from the utilitarian and short-range views of political activity.”
Many projects that come from the hand of a nice group that will work side by side with @MartinLemaUy ?? #Let’sLookFar //t.co/NPegmTQcZz
— Maru Siri (@maruusr) February 20, 2021
