Buenos Aires, December 11 (NA) – The Civic Radical Union (UCR) will tomorrow define the successor to Martín Lousteau as president of the party's National Committee, and a 'dark horse' has gained ground in recent hours and is positioned as the favorite in the prior bets, after the governor of Corrientes, Gustavo Valdés, declined the invitation. It would be the mayor of Venado Tuerto and vice president of the Santa Fe UCR, Leonel Chiarella, who at his young 36 years seeks to be the face of the renewal of the 'white berets' and for this he has the advantage of not belonging to any of the internal factions that dispute power. The 106 national delegates will meet this Friday from 2 p.m. at the headquarters of the National Committee on Alsina 1786 street, in the City of Buenos Aires, where they will settle the debate on the leadership of the centennial party, the Argentine News Agency (NA) learned. 'If what is circulating for @UCRNational tomorrow is confirmed, it can be a great day for all of us brave ones who do not speculate and never stopped believing...', wrote the Buenos Aires national deputy Pablo Juliano, excited about the possibility that the change is not linked to better-known figures that have accumulated greater wear and tear. The election of the president of the UCR takes place in the context of the greatest weakness and crisis that radicalism has experienced since the return of democracy. After a lackluster electoral performance in October, the 'pure' radical bloc in the Chamber of Deputies was reduced to just six members, while five other legislators found shelter in the multi-colored bench of United Provinces and Karina Banfi made a separate ranch with a monoblock. This scenario of parliamentary fragmentation contrasts with a certain permanence of power in the five provinces (Corrientes, Santa Fe, Mendoza, Jujuy and Chaco) and hundreds of municipalities across the country that radicalism governs, although the prospects for retaining some of these districts for 2027 are quite bleak. The irreconcilable differences of corneism (the most official sector) with other tribes of a more opposing hue such as Evolution (Lousteau), the Santa Fe pullarism and the Jujuy moralism paved the way for Valdés as the natural candidate to take the reins of the centennial party. The Correntinian enjoyed a significant consensus base after having won the last elections with a resounding majority under the United Provinces brand (after rejecting a dishonorable agreement with La Libertad Avanza), but he would have desisted to avoid the wear and tear of having to deal with the interests of the different factions of radicalism. In this context, in the absence of other consensus figures and to avoid sterile internal struggles, the name of Chiarella entered the discussion, who would have the approval of the different internal sectors to take the step forward.
In 2023, he was re-elected as mayor of Venado Tuerto with an impressive 83% of the vote and his management of one of the largest cities in Santa Fe is generally well valued.
