Mauricio Macri will not be running as Argentina’s presidential candidate in next October’s elections. In a six-minute video he posted on his social media, the former president said the candidates of the opposition coalition he led, Together for Change, knew how to “expand the political space for change,” which he said he needed initiated a crusade against Kirchnerism from the Casa Rosada some eight years ago. “I know that millions of people have a desire for us to work together again in the direction we started in 2015, a direction that was sadly interrupted in 2019,” he said. The economic crisis, which he settled in 2018 with a $44,000 million loan he applied for from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), made his re-election more difficult. Macri was expecting a rematch at the polls this year, but after long months of deliberation, he finally decided not to enter the contest.
Macri’s decision answers several questions, some purposeful and others tied to the political game. First and foremost, the polls give her a negative image of almost 50%, only just surpassed by Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. Second, he found important figures within his coalition, such as the head of government of Buenos Aires, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, who warned him that if he wanted to be the representative of the whole area, he had to submit to the primary elections in August. And third, the resignation allows him to present himself as the “egoless” politician he himself defends as a role model.
“Nearly 80 years ago, an important part of Argentine society chose to believe in messianic leaders, characters who would supposedly save us and lead us to a better life,” he said in his message, referring to Peronism forties and its modern version, Kirchnerism. “This paternalistic leadership has kept Argentines from taking their own responsibilities: this subordination brought us here to a country where more than half of Argentines are poor, with a devastated economy increasingly dogged by drug trafficking,” said he. He then shot current President Alberto Fernández, whom he considered “a puppet” of Cristina Kirchner.
Without Macri in the running are the opposition coalition candidates Rodríguez Larreta, former Security Minister Patricia Bullrich and former governor of Buenos Aires María Eugenia Vidal. A member of the coalition, the governor of Jujuy (north), Gerardo Morales, has committed himself to the Radical Citizens’ Union (UCR). All highlighted the former president’s “historic decision” and viewed it as an act of “generosity” paving the way for new leadership. “Although he could become president again, he has put our country’s interests ahead of his own as very few leaders in Argentine history have done,” Bullrich wrote. For Rodríguez Larreta, Macri’s gesture “revealed his enormous vision, his generosity, his courage and his love for Argentines”. Gov. Morales said the former president made “a good decision that helps the Together for Change collective.”
Once again, Mauricio Macri makes, as he has done all his life, a decision that demonstrates his tremendous vision, generosity, courage and love for the Argentine people.
— Horacio Rodríguez Larreta (@horaciorlarreta) March 26, 2023
Extraordinarily, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Macri’s uncertainty about his candidacy has already created more problems than benefits for a sector that presents itself to society as an orderly alternative to the political and economic disaster of the Peronist government. The fight will now be about gaining the support of the former president, who has gone to great lengths to hide which of the contenders is his favourite. Macri took pictures with everyone, although it’s no secret that if he could handpick, he would point to Patricia Bullrich, his former security minister. Bullrich represents the sector furthest to the right of the coalition and, should they reach the finals in October, who can win the vote of the ultra-liberal Javier Milei, a conflicted third party rising like the foam in with calls for the end of the political “caste”. the polls.
Mauricio Macri’s historic decision confirms his greatness and generosity. Though he could be president again, he has put our country’s interests ahead of his own as very few leaders in Argentine history have done.
— Patricia Bullrich (@PatoBullrich) March 26, 2023
Unless there is a political earthquake, no former president will run in Argentina’s next election. Cristina Kirchner ruled herself out of the fight last December when she declared herself “banned by the judiciary” after a six-year prison sentence and permanent suspension that a court had requested on corruption charges. Macri’s resignation has given wings to the former president’s supporters, who are urging President Alberto Fernández to take the same steps and determine whether or not he will run for office in October. Fernández said last February that he would forego reelection if the party came up with a more competitive candidate than himself. Kirchnerism reminds you that your negative image is around 70%.
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