Argentina-Top farm leaders not running for political office.

FARMERS SAY NO TO RUNNING FOR OFFICE.

"This harms the republican spirit and institutions," Alfonsín said, echoing the outrage expressed by the whole arch of the opposition.

Eduardo Buzzi, one of the main farm leaders, told reporters after the meeting with Alfonsín: "None of the four presidents will participate. But second-ranking leaders are free to do so. We have top responsibilities. We cannot do the same that Buenos Aires province Governor Daniel-Scioli is doing."

At the behest of former president Néstor Kirchner, who is the Peronist party chairman, Scioli has expressed readiness to run "testimonially" for the Lower House only to quit the legislative post if elected, and continue governing the province.

Alfonsín said that CRA Argentine Rural Confederation head Mario Llambías turned down an offer to run for the coalition between the Radicals and the Civic Coalition.

Forming the liaison board together with Buzzi and Llambías are SRA chief Hugo Biolcati and Coninagro president Carlos Garetto.

Farm leaders had already said that only lower ranking leaders could run. Farm lobbies are encouraging their participation in party politics in a drive to attain quorum in Congress to debate a possible rebate of export duties. Opposition parties have fallen 21 seats short of the 129 quorum, as the ruling Victory Front refused to attend a session. In the face of the government’s refusal to reduce duties, farmers are now pinning hopes on Congress.

Alfonsín praised the Radical party decision to readmit Vice-President Julio Cobos to its ranks once Cobos completes his mandate, due to expire in 2011, when presidential elections are scheduled.

Cobos had been expelled "for life" from the Radical party after he became Mrs. Kirchner running mate but this month, at the request of Radical Party National Convention Chairman Hipólito Solari Yrigoyen, the ban on Cobos was lifted taking into consideration that in July last year he voted against the government amid a fierce dispute with the farm sector.

"This is something that we had been mulling for over a year now, after Cobos expressed his willingness to come back to the party," Alfonsín said. "At the beginning there was some understandable reluctance but as time went by the overwhelming majority of party members admitted that Cobos wants to come back to strengthen the party and that he is doing so in a humble way."

Asked whether Margarita Stolbizer, the head of the Buenos Aires province chapter of the Civic Coalition should be also readmitted as a Radical, Alfonsín said: "She has never expressed her willingness to come back and that is regrettable. I hope that some day not only Margarita, but all the Radicals who quit the party together with her, including Civic Coalition national leader Elisa Carrio, come back."

The Radical Party, the Civic Coalition and the Socialist Party have forged an alliance to run together in some districts in the June vote in which the government’s control of Congress may be at risk, among other reasons, because the public image of Mrs. Kirchner has plummeted as a consequence of the dispute with farmers.

Asked to comment on reports of tough bickering between the Radical Party and the Civic Coalition over the distribution of slots on the the Lower House’s slate for Buenos Aires province, Alfonsín said that although nothing has been formally agreed upon, he considered that running in second place after Stolbizer still was a "dignified" position for the Radicals.

Half of the 257-seat Lower House and a third of the 72-seat Upper House will be renewed in the vote that the government recently brought forward three months alleging that as a consequence of the global crisis governability in Argentina could be at risk otherwise.

The decision is widely seen as a move by Néstor Kirchner to place stumbling blocks in the way of a highly fragmented opposition. The other main opposition pole, an alliance of "dissident Peronist" deputies Francisco de Narváez and Felipe Solá with Buenos Aires centre-right Mayor Mauricio Macri, has been also facing difficulties over the distribution of candidacies.

Alfonsín said that during the meeting with the liaison board they discussed a plan farmers unveiled in Córdoba earlier this year and that Radicals will present for discussion during the party’s national Convention due to meet on Friday and Saturday in Mar del Plata.

Alfonsín said that they had "several coincidences" about farm polices.

Farmers are demanding a reduction in export duties to brave a crisis that has led Argentina to harvest nearly a third less grain than in the previous season, an occurrence that farmers’ mainly blame on bad policies, rather than on the global crisis and a severe drought at home.

Asked whether he would be defending an across-the-board elimination of duties, such as farmers had demanded at some point of their year-long protest against the government, Alfonsín said that unless the tax system is changed it would not be possible to eliminate duties in general.

"That would not be responsible. But we are demanding an elimination of duties for wheat and corn, a measure that would have no fiscal impact and, at the same time, it would ensure farmers’ profitability and food security. If production keeps falling we will be running the risk of having to import wheat and corn. We must be very careful."

Argentina is one of the world’s largest suppliers of grain and oilseeds.

Alfonsín also said that beef prices should be kept at bay through measures that don’t threaten growth. "We should imitate Uruguay, for instance. We should protect popular cuts to supply the domestic market but preventing production distortions that would lead us to running the risk of having to import beef."

As a consequence of the global crisis, the drought and what farmers describe as distortive and discriminatory policies, Argentina’s rodeo is estimated to have fallen by about three million head of cattle out of 55 million.