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TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3962
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RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID 2256
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C O N F I D E N T I A L BUENOS AIRES 000756 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/30/2029 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR KDEM AR
SUBJECT: ARGENTINE PRESIDENT CFK CALMLY SPINS ADVERSE 
ELECTION RESULTS; OPPOSITION DEMURS 
 
REF: BUENOS AIRES 0750 
 
Classified By: CDA Tom Kelly for reasons 1.4 (b) & (d). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary and introduction:  Argentine president 
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (CFK) addressed the nation 
June 29 via live television to put the previous day's 
election results in perspective.  She sought to put the best 
possible face on the electoral results, noting it was not 
unusual for governments to suffer setbacks in legislative 
mid-term elections after six years in power and arguing that 
pro-government candidates won a greater share of the national 
vote than any other political force.  Starting off in a 
somber tone but gradually warming up and ending with smiles, 
CFK said she was not planning any cabinet changes. 
Opposition candidates and political commentators panned her 
remarks, saying that it showed CFK's lack of feel for the 
Argentine electorate.  For our part, we found CFK's calm, 
dispassionate demeanor at the press conference a reassuring 
sign that the GoA is taking the adverse electoral results in 
stride, at least for now.  End summary. 
 
The Results According to Cristina 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) In a rare press conference televised live June 29, CFK 
sought to put a positive spin on the previous day's election 
results (reftel).  She opened by stressing that the elections 
had been orderly and transparent, despite allegations 
beforehand by the opposition that the government would 
orchestrate widespread fraud.  CFK congratulated everyone who 
had participated in the elections, and "all of the victors." 
 
¶3. (C) Although CFK acknowledged that the results in Buenos 
Aires province (where her husband had led the Victory Front's 
slate of candidates) had not been in the government's favor, 
she pointed out that pro-government forces had won in 14 
provinces, and that nationwide FpV-aligned groups won 31.03%, 
more than any other political force.  CFK said three major 
blocs had emerged ("European-style").  She described the bloc 
that had come in second place with a combined total of 29% of 
the national vote as a loose alliance of the Civic Coalition, 
the Radical Party (UCR), the Socialists, "Cobismo" (followers 
of VP Cobos), and "Juezismo" (followers of former Cordoba 
mayor Luis Juez, who won his senatorial bid).  She noted the 
center-right PRO party (which won in Buenos Aires province 
and city) had 18.5% of the national vote, followed by several 
smaller groupings. 
 
¶4. (C) CFK asserted that before the election she had a 
majority in the Senate, with 37 out of 72 seats, but not in 
the Chamber of Deputies, where she had 155 (number must be 
wrong; 155 is more than half of 257) out of 257 seats and 
therefore relied on the support of another 22 allies to pass 
legislation or muster quorum.  As a result of the June 28 
elections, she expected to have 35 seats in the Senate plus 
the support of another four allies, giving her a working 
majority.  And in the Chamber, she expected to have 107 seats 
plus the support of another 27 allies.  She said she looked 
forward to working with the legislative branch, noting that 
congressional approval adds legitimacy to executive branch 
initiatives.  She acknowledged the need to negotiate to reach 
agreements, and later, in response to a question, pointed out 
that negotiations do not require parties to sacrifice 
principles. 
 
¶5. (C) In response to a question about whether the June 28 
results should be interpreted as a 14-point decline in public 
support for the government since the 2007 elections, CFK 
noted it was not unusual for governments to suffer setbacks 
in legislative mid-term elections after six years in power. 
She pointed out that even in Buenos Aires province, her 
husband's slate garnered a greater percentage (32.11%) than 
did Mayor Macri's slate headed by Gabriela Michetti (31.09%) 
in Buenos Aires city.  Media had portrayed Michetti as a 
winner, even though her 31% indicated a much sharper, quicker 
drop in public support, since Macri-Michetti had won the city 
government with 60% two years earlier (in the second round; 
in the first round in 2007, Macri won 45% of the vote).  CFK 
also dismissed the idea that the election represented a turn 
to the right, praising the effective campaign of independent 
leftist candidate Pino Solanas, who took second in Buenos 
 
Aires city with a late surge in support. 
 
CFK: No More Cabinet Changes 
---------------------------- 
 
¶6. (U) In response to a question about cabinet changes, CFK 
noted that her cabinet chief had announced earlier that day 
the replacement of Health Minister Graciela Ocana by Tucuman 
Lt. Governor Juan Luis Manzur, but that she did not foresee 
any other immediate personnel moves.  Her husband, former 
president Nestor Kirchner, had announced earlier in the day 
his resignation as president of the Peronist Party (PJ), 
requesting that PJ vice president Daniel Scioli, the governor 
of Buenos Aires province who ran with Kirchner in the June 28 
election, be allowed to take over as PJ leader.  Scioli, in 
turn, announced he will not take the seat he won in Congress, 
but will continue to serve as governor.  In what may presage 
an attempt to develop a more independent image, Nestor 
Kirchner's erstwhile running mate in Sunday's election 
characterized the move as "my own decision," and said that he 
had already reached out to several opposition figures, 
including Macri, Elisa Carrio, and Francisco de Narvaez. 
 
Opposition Criticizes CFK 
------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) Opposition leaders criticized CFK's attempt to 
downplay the government's defeat in the June 28 elections, 
questioning what they saw as her refusal to acknowledge the 
scale of the government's defeat and her failure to 
contemplate any responsibility for the vote or brook any 
criticism.  Francisco de Narvaez, leader of the Union-PRO 
slate that came in first ahead of Nestor Kirchner's slate in 
Buenos Aires, said, "The government is autistic, removed from 
reality."  Elisa Carrio, head of the Civic and Social Accord 
that includes her Civic Coalition, said CFK had created "an 
abyss" between herself and the people, and predicted that if 
this "abyss" got any deeper, there would be "a very serious 
crisis of governability."  Leftist filmmaker Pino Solanas, 
whose ticket came in second in the city of Buenos Aires, 
expressed discomfort with CFK's praise for him, denied any 
possibility of an alliance with the government, and accused 
CFK of "adulterating reality." 
 
¶8. (SBU) Vice President Cobos, returning to the capital from 
Mendoza, where his allies scored a major victory, said he was 
willing to work with CFK to negotiate and build congressional 
consensus to approve difficult legislation, such as the 
budget or renewal of the Economic Emergency Law.  In response 
to CFK's criticism of him for his "unprecedented" role as a 
vice president putting together a slate of opposition 
candidates, Cobos said it was also "unprecedented" for a vice 
president to be mistreated the way he had been by CFK and her 
husband. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶9. (C) The opposition is certainly right to characterize 
CFK's post-election analysis as a tendentious attempt to put 
the best possible face on what was a clear, devastating 
defeat.  At the same time, CFK is hardly the only politician, 
in Argentina or anywhere else for that matter, to try to spin 
bad political news.  From our perspective, the biggest news 
from the press conference was that CFK had her act together, 
and seemed to take the election result in stride.  Starting 
off in a somber tone but gradually warming up and ending with 
smiles, CFK made a reasonable case for still being 
politically relevant.  While her husband and she are 
undoubtedly still processing the election's meaning, CFK's 
performance at the press conference suggests that, at least 
in the short term, the Kirchners will not react to the 
electorate's harsh verdict by intensifying Argentina's deep 
political divisions. 
 
KELLY