ARGENTINA: RICARDO LOPEZ MURPHY LOSES CONTROL OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L BUENOS AIRES 000944 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/26/2016 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL AR SUBJECT: ARGENTINA: RICARDO LOPEZ MURPHY LOSES CONTROL OF HIS OWN PARTY REF: BUENOS AIRES 00857 Classified By: Ambassador Lino Gutierrez for Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: According to a Recrear political advisor, Ricardo Lopez Murphy is asking for a leave of absence as Recrear Party President and may leave the party following contentious internal elections that left Lopez Murphy isolated within his own party. Lopez Murphy's request for a leave of absence has caused a crisis in the party leadership, leading to resignations and setting the stage for future conflict. Lopez Murphy reportedly plans on focusing on his think tank while he waits for the party leaders to call him back, but dissident leaders are reportedly in the process of making their own deals with Mauricio Macri. The split within Recrear can be seen as part of an ideological conflict within the Republican Proposal (PRO) alliance, as Lopez Murphy and his allies resist being tainted with Neuquen Governor Jorge Sobisch's presidential campaign and Macri's rapprochement with ex-Duhaldista Peronists. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) Recrear political advisor Andy Rivas told Poloff on April 26 that Ricardo Lopez Murphy is asking for a leave of absence as Recrear Party President and may leave the party following contentious internal elections that left Lopez Murphy isolated within his own party. During the April 24 vote to elect the new members of Recrear's national committee that runs the party, Lopez Murphy failed to get four of his key associates elected to the committee, leaving Lopez Murphy with only one close ally on the new 12-member committee. Following the vote, Lopez Murphy asked for a leave of absence, although Rivas said that party leaders were trying to keep the conflict from leaking to the press or to the general Recrear party membership. ¶3. (C) Lopez Murphy's request for a leave of absence has caused a crisis in the party leadership, leading to resignations and setting the stage for future conflict. It was reported in the press on April 26 that long-time associate Manuel Solanet -- one of Lopez Murphy's candidates for the national committee -- has resigned from the party, along with the ex Vice President of Recrear Buenos Aires, Emilio Apud. Rivas said that more resignations from the party will follow shortly. According to Rivas, Lopez Murphy has asked many of his allies within Recrear to move with him to his think tank, Fundacion Civico Republicana. Rivas also said that Lopez Murphy planned to ask for the USD $1 million that Fundacion Civico Republicana loaned to Recrear, possibly setting in motion a financial conflict with Recrear leaders. ¶4. (C) Rivas said that Lopez Murphy plans on focusing on his think tank while he waits for the party leaders to call him back, but Rivas said that the dissident leaders are making their own deals with Mauricio Macri. The leading members of the dissident wing of Recrear, such as Tucuman's Pablo Walter and National Diputado from Buenos Aires City, Esteban Bullrich, are reportedly in discussions with Mauricio Macri to form their own alliances with him. (NOTE: Lopez Murphy is currently part of the PRO political front that includes Macri an Neuquen Governor Jorge Sobisch. Lopez Murphy has distanced himself within PRO because of his ongoing conflict with Sobisch and Macri's discussions with the ex-Duhaldista bloc opposed to Kirchner regarding an alliance. Lopez Murphy recently told the Charge and Poloff that he would never support a presidential ticket that included Sobisch (Reftel). END NOTE.) Rivas said that the recent decision to exclude the anti-Sobisch Recrear members from Neuquen from the national committee was part of the effort by certain members of Recrear to draw closer to Macri. ¶5. (C) COMMENT: If the internal conflict in Recrear is not resolved, Lopez Murphy will have a difficult time achieving his stated goal of winning a seat in Congress in 2007 (Reftel) without a party structure behind him. He is increasingly isolated in PRO, as Macri is developing strong ties with Peronists opposed to Kirchner and continuing to support Sobisch in his national campaign. After his fifth place showing in the October 2005 elections that left him without a congressional seat and with mounting debts, Lopez Murphy is in need of allies, and this party conflict only adds to his predicament. He may see his recent warming relations with Affirmation for an Egalitarian Republic (ARI) leader Elisa Carrio and Radical Civic Union (UCR) President Roberto Iglesias as the answer to his problems in PRO. ¶6. (C) The split within Recrear can be seen as part of an ideological conflict within the Republican Proposal (PRO) alliance, as Lopez Murphy and his allies resist being tainted with Neuquen Governor Jorge Sobisch's presidential campaign and Macri's rapprochement with ex-Duhaldista Peronists. Rivas reported that Lopez Murphy is justifying his decision to possibly leave the party to his followers as a means to preserve himself for the future by avoiding association with corrupt political figures like Sobisch and the ex-Duhaldistas. Lopez Murphy reportedly recognizes that 2007 will be a difficult year for the opposition and that Sobisch has little chance of beating Kirchner, and therefore Lopez Murphy feels there is little reason to compromise himself now and jeopardize his future political opportunities. END COMMENT. GUTIERREZ