By Anna Catherine Brigida
BUENOS AIRES (Portal) – Argentina’s battle lines in the presidential election have sharpened after Economy Minister Sergio Massa started in a dramatic late turn, taking on front-runners including a conservative city mayor, a former security czar and a libertarian economist.
After months of behind-the-scenes negotiations, a deadline for candidates expires on Saturday night. This marks the serious start of a race towards the October 22nd general election to choose a leader who can lead the South American country out of an economic crisis with inflation over 100%, rising poverty and dwindling foreign exchange reserves.
A primary will be held within the political blocs on August 13, a ballot that will also be a key litmus test of voter sentiment as the ruling Peronist alliance falters in opinion polls while the struggling economy struggles.
The most notable late confirmation was Economy Minister Sergio Massa, whose candidacy was somewhat unexpectedly announced on Friday night.
“It completely changes the political scene,” said Alejandro Corbacho, director of the political science program at Argentina’s UCEMA university. “He enjoys the support of important sectors of the economy here and will be a competitive candidate.”
The ruling party announced Massa and Chief of Staff Agustin Rossi as candidates for the unified coalition, just a day after Interior Minister Eduardo “Wado” de Pedro announced his candidacy and Ambassador to Brazil Daniel Scioli reiterated his decision to run. Neither of them has publicly ended their candidacy. Both were behind Massa in the polls.
The moderate mayor of Buenos Aires, Horacio Larreta, and the harder ex-security minister Patricia Bullrich are competing for leadership of the main conservative opposition bloc, which tops the overall polls. Behind them is the centrist Congressman Facundo Manes.
Bullrich, who called for party unity at a press conference on Friday and later blamed Massa for the country’s economic woes, promised sweeping changes in the event of victory.
“This ticket advocates for profound change,” she said. “Argentina needs leaders with conviction because the problems to be solved are profound.”
A serious challenge for all of them is libertarian economist Javier Milei, who is the most popular single candidate in polls and has many voters tired of the political status quo. Overall, however, his party is still in third place. He has promised to dollarize the economy and abolish the central bank.
“He’s complicating the lives of the other two coalitions because he’s taking votes away from them,” Argentine political adviser Carlos Fara said, adding that his personal charisma may be tempered by his more limited party structure.
Larreta, Bullrich and Massa are roughly level in the polls, with Milei slightly ahead. With no candidate or party gaining more than 50%, it is likely that the October election will see a runoff with all candidates still up for grabs.
(Reporting by Anna-Catherine Brigida; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Jacqueline Wong)