The deadline for registering candidacies for the PASO primaries duly expired at midnight on the last Saturday of June, with thousands of names filed nationwide. There were various last-minute surprises, of which the biggest occured in the ruling coalition – Unión por La Patria will have contested primary but not between Interior Minister Eduardo “Wado” de Pedro and 2015 presidential candidate Daniel Scioli, as expected, but between Economy Minister Sergio Massa (wtih Cabinet Chief Agustín Rossi as his running mate) and social leader Juan Grabois. The competition in the main opposition coalition, Juntos por el Cambio, will be City Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta with outgoing Jujuy Radical Governor Gerardo Morales against a Patricia Bullrich/Luis Petri ticket, Javier Milei will be the libertarian dark horse while outgoing Córdoba Governor Juan Schiaretti head the non-Kirchnerite Peronist Hacemos por Nuestro País. There are no less than four leftist presidential hopefuls (Myriam Bregman, Gabriel Solano, Manuela Castañeira and Marcelo Ramal) with two fringe candidates (Guillermo Moreno of Principios y Valores and Jesús Escobar of Libres del Sur) and extreme right-winger César Biondini rounding out the 13 names. De Paredo and Máximo Kirchner, respectively, will top the senatoiral and Congress lists for the government in Buenos Aires Province whose Governor is Axel Kiciloff will seek re-election, with PRO hopefuls Diego Santilli (for Rodríguez Larreta (and Néstor Grindetti (Bullrich) his main competition. PRO’s Jorge Macri, Radical Senator Martín Lousteau and Leandro Santoro for the government are the leadinfg City mayoral hopefuls.
SOURCE: www.batimes.com.ar