Argentine President Alberto Fernández at the opening of Congress sessions on March 1, 2023. Natacha Pisarenko (AP)
Peronist Alberto Fernández is not seeking re-election as Argentina’s president. “On December 10, I will hand over the presidential sash to whoever was elected by popular vote in the elections. I will work for him to be a partner or partner in our political space,” Fernández said in a seven-minute video this Friday, in which his voice is heard over images showing him in office. The President’s decision opens a new electoral panorama in Argentina. For months, Kirchnerism had been urging Fernández to drop out of the race to make way for up-and-coming, better-image figures. Fernánez’s management has a 70% disapproval rating in the polls, weighed down by the worst economic crisis since the 2001 collapse.
“My decision,” Fernández tweeted this morning. He didn’t explicitly state his resignation, but he made it clear. “I don’t have a single opponent on the front of all. I said we were back to get better. for this we have to democratize the space,” said Fernández, alluding to the fight he has been fighting with his Vice President Cristina Kirchner for the past two years. The presidential binomial’s divorce has crippled the government for two years and fueled an economic crisis that threatens its ability to govern. According to Kirchnerism, Fernández’s indecisiveness about his possible candidacy only hampered the search for solutions.
Without Fernández, none of the names that have dominated Argentine politics since 2003 will appear in October’s elections. Cristina Kirchner withdrew from the presidential race last December after being sentenced to six years in prison and permanent ban on corruption charges. Former President Mauricio Macri did the same thing a month ago, arguing it was time for a generational shift in Together for Change, the main opposition alliance.
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