The governors defy Milei and are already talking about a joint electoral structure for 2027.

Amid the ongoing conflict over the distribution of funds and the partial approval of a package of related laws , a majority group of governors is moving forward with the formation of a joint electoral front to challenge Javier Milei for the presidency in 2027.

The talks have been going on for months, and there's a consensus to create a space that brings together provincial leaders and leaders who came to power through Together for Change and those Peronists who favored dialogue. The limit is Kirchnerism .

Clarín was able to reconstruct some of the conversations between the provincial governors, who are going through the worst period in their relationship with the Mileísmo, to the point that the President himself criticized them for wanting to "destroy the Government," after the two initiatives that provide more resources to the provinces and promote changes to the fuel tax and ATN advanced in the Senate.

The annoyance of many leaders intensified after that statement. " They put us all in the same bag, with the Kirchnerist governors , when we supported the government for this entire year and a half," is the common complaint shared by many governors, who want to consolidate a common ground to confront the Casa Rosada .

The discussions take place outside the "23 Governors + One Head of Government" chat, which includes all the provincial leaders and Jorge Macri, the mayor of the city. It so happens that leaders completely aligned with Kirchnerism, such as Gildo Insfrán (Formosa), Gustavo Melella (Tierra del Fuego), Axel Kicillof (Buenos Aires), and Ricardo Quintela (La Rioja), coexist there.

While they are not going to make it public, provincial sources assure that those who are encouraging the creation of an electoral proposal for the presidential elections imagine the ten governors of Juntos del Cambio coexisting with other independents and several of those who represent non-Kirchnerist Peronism .

The ten Cambiemita governors are Gustavo Valdés (Corrientes), Rogelio Frigerio (Entre Ríos), Claudio Poggi (San Luis), Ignacio Torres (Chubut), Marcelo Orrego (San Juan), Maximiliano Pullaro (Santa Fe) and Carlos Sadir (Jujuy), Alfredo Cornejo (Mendoza), Jorge Macri (CABA) and Leandro Zdero (Chaco).

The Peronists who do not answer directly to Cristina Kirchner include Martín Llaryora (Córdoba), Gustavo Sáenz (Salta), Osvaldo Jaldo (Tucumán), Raúl Jalil (Catamarca), and, according to those who are thinking about forming a federal party by 2027, Sergio Ziliotto from La Pampa could join. They will also seek to attract former governors with territorial influence, such as Juan Schiaretti.

Among the so-called independents are three from the south who govern with provincial parties: Rolando Figueroa (Neuquén), Alberto Weretilneck (Río Negro), and Claudio Vidal (Santa Cruz), as well as Hugo Passalacqua from Misiones. In a maximum scenario in which all of them were to join a party competing against Milei, there would be a total of 18 provincial governors.

Meanwhile, in the red circle , there is talk of a meeting this Thursday at a cocktail party at La Rural , to smooth over differences between governors and officials from the Casa Rosada.

Sources close to the provinces downplay the success of this summit, convened by the president of the Rural Society, Nicolás Pino, because it is not institutional in nature. They are instead waiting for a formal invitation from the government, which has not yet been forthcoming.

Several of the governors who are in favor of dialogue agree that the ideal bridge to negotiate issues related to federal revenue sharing is Guillermo Francos , or even Santiago Caputo.

But they believe the Chief of Staff is not empowered by the Mileis and that the presidential advisor has lost, through his own decision or someone else's, internal influence.

"Everything is decided by El Jefe, that is, Karina, with the Menems," they say, referring to the influence of the secretary general of the Presidency. Although they also say that in recent weeks , following the unity of the governors, the government has begun to try to mitigate the conflict , beyond Milei's public statements.

A governor was called several times in the same week by a key government minister to resolve pending issues that had been delayed. "They're on alert because they feel the situation in Congress could complicate their governance," is the shared reflection.

The package of laws passed by Congress last week, including pension increases, an extension of the pension moratorium, and the declaration of a disability emergency , is causing concern in the Rosada (Chairman's Office), despite Milei's statement that she will veto them.

However, there is confidence that once the President vetoes the law , the House of Representatives will support him in upholding the veto, based on the votes of the Libertarians themselves, plus the majority of the PRO and other blocs in good standing with the head of state.

"They'll have the numbers to uphold the vetoes on that package of pension laws, but it will be difficult to support them if the governors' proposals for the ATN and fuel tax are confirmed," provincial sources believe.

In recent hours, those working on the bills' texts have taken Federico Sturzenegger's statements with good humor. The Minister of Deregulation and State Transformation suggested that Milei approve the initiative modifying the distribution of Treasury Contributions, but the government has decided to veto it if it becomes law.