Speaking in front of construction business leaders on Tuesday, President Alberto Fernández called Economy minister Sergio Massa  “the next president”, one day after Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner also gave her blessing to the Unión por la Patria (UxP) presidential candidate.

The two main factions of the ruling coalition have now publicly supported Massa, the representative of peronism’s bid for unity towards the October elections, despite the fact Juan Grabois will also compete for the UxP’s nomination.

Fernández spoke after Massa at a congress held by the Argentine Construction Chamber (Camarco, by its Spanish acronym), where the president called the Economy Minister “the next president” of the country.

“You will listen to the president’s opinion, but you just listened to the next president’s opinion,” Fernández said about Massa, voicing his public support for the minister when they crossed paths on stage.

A few minutes earlier, Massa had said that Argentina needed to “pay the IMF and never go back” to taking loans from it. He also said that the new financial programme agreed upon with the international organization for the next six months will be released in the next few hours.

The decision to not take any more IMF loans is something both main UxP’s factions can agree upon, after Massa and Chief of Staff Agustín Rossi’s ticket announcement created tensions within the coalition.

Those disagreements ceased, at least publicly, once Cristina Kirchner shared a stage with Massa on Monday, the first time they appeared together since he became presidential candidate last Friday. At an event to repatriate an aircraft that was used to murder victims of state terrorism during Argentina’s last dictatorship, she insisted on the need for unity to win the elections, and said it’s important to take chances to win.

Buenos Aires province Governor Axel Kicillof also gave his support to the minister’s candidacy, calling it “the result of a unity proposal that was achieved with all the factions” of UxP.

Kicillof said that to compete and win against Juntos por el Cambio and libertarian Javier Milei, “the popular field’s unity is key” and that it’s “not convenient to have internal discussions.”

“I have differences with Massa and none of us would deny that, but there are clear contact points in the fundamental topics,” he told El Destape Radio.

After the event he shared with Cristina Kirchner on Monday, Massa was seen with Kicillof in a rally in Lomas de Zamora, Buenos Aires province.

Massa described Kicillof as a “little giant” and an “enormous governor” who is preparing for his second term, if he is reelected in October. Federico Otermin’s candidacy for local mayor was announced at the event.

Massa and Kicillof shared the rally with Interior Minister Eduardo “Wado” De Pedro and national deputy Máximo Kirchner. They are also the main national senator and deputy candidates for the province, respectively.