Divided as they are, the Peronists will not necessarily unite behind the next government.
But whether that happens or not, the Peronists are unlikely to stay quiet for long.
The opposition Peronists, particularly ex-President Carlos Menem, despise Mr Alvarez, who defected from their party in the 1990s.
Since most provinces are run by Peronists, that would be an extra difficulty for Mr de la Rua.
And given Argentina's economic woes, the Peronists have little to gain by being seen to be needlessly obstructive.
The Alliance, in contrast, has been able to profit from the Peronists' mistakes, without saying anything much itself.
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The birth of the alliance has even persuaded the Peronists to pull together.
The most immediate effect of his about-face is to avert the real possibility of a split among the Peronists.
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He has received overtures from a group of dissident Peronists around Mr Duhalde, who became Mr Kirchner's most powerful foe.
The provincial Peronists, led by his wife, were mauled in October's congressional elections, and Mr Duhalde's presidential hopes with them.
The woes of the economy are such that the Peronists, for now, are happy to have someone else handle them.
Though the Peronists, now by far the largest element of the Senate, may actually lose some seats there, they will retain control.
And while the Peronists are a single (albeit fractious) party accustomed to a single chief, the two-party Alliance has a collective leadership.
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Mr Menem and the Peronists are throwing up defences against attacks on the regime's obvious weaknesses, Argentina's high unemployment and excessive poverty.
Second, the Peronists retain a powerful grip on Argentina's politics, despite having failed for the first time to unite behind a single candidate.
The Peronists will have a Senate majority until at least 2001, and will probably be the largest force in the Chamber of Deputies.
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Unless the pollsters are badly wrong, when the new Congress meets on December 10th, the Alliance will be outnumbered by the Peronists in both houses.
Years of over-spending, corruption and mismanagement - largely, it has to be admitted, on the part of the Peronists themselves - have left Argentina with little credibility.
Another benefit of early congressional voting is that it will take place before at least two prominent governors' elections, which the Peronists' opponents are likely to win.
When he came up with a list of employees to be struck off the payroll, he was turned down by the opposition Peronists, who have a majority in the Senate.
Mr Duhalde is said to have reserved a spot for Mr Cavallo as his cabinet chief, in case the Peronists' stalled campaign fails to regain enough momentum on its own.
As unofficial leader of the alliance, she will also get much of the credit if the alliance can overtake the Peronists, who at present are ahead in the opinion polls.
If his wife wins big, Mr Kirchner can hope that the momentum will attract to his side some of the Duhalde people as well as Peronists currently aligned with neither man.
Yet, now that Mr Menem and his Peronists have been voted out of office and replaced by the more sober Fernando de la Rua, it feels like the end of an era.
The candidates' slates in Buenos Aires province are likely to be headed by Eduardo Duhalde for the opposition Peronists, and by Raul Alfonsin, a former president, for Mr de la Rua's Radicals.
Without Frepaso's 34 seats, Mr de la Rua would lose his working majority in the 257-seat lower house of Congress, and the effort by the opposition Peronists to overturn pension reform might succeed.
At the same time, Mr Duhalde needs to retain the support of his fellow Peronists, and of other political bosses, such as Raul Alfonsin of the opposition Radicals, who has backed the measures.
In Buenos Aires province, home to two-fifths of the nation's electorate, recent polls have put the Peronists well ahead, with about 35% support, Frepaso next with near 30%, but the Radicals trailing on around 20%.
In any event, Mr de la Rua can argue he has little alternative to austerity: a law approved this year with the support both of his Alliance and of the Peronists obliges the government to eliminate the deficit by 2003.
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