2023-06-24 02:32:51
– The ruling coalition has chosen its presidential candidate
In Argentina, the center-left coalition in power since 2019 has chosen Economy Minister Sergio Massa for the October 22 presidential election.
Published today at 04:32
Sergio Massa, a lawyer by training and former president of the Chamber of Deputies, was appointed almost a year ago at the head of a “super-ministry” of the Economy.
AFP
Argentine Economy Minister Sergio Massa, a year-long firefighter of a notoriously fragile economy, will be the sole candidate of the center-left coalition in power for the presidential election on October 22, the coalition announced on Friday. .
Sergio Massa, 51, Minister of the Economy since July 2022, will be “our candidate for the presidency”, announced on Twitter the coalition, renamed “Union for the Fatherland”, instead of the “Front de tous”, its name since 2019.
The announcement comes following several consultation meetings on Friday, and the withdrawal of other pre-candidatures, including those of Interior Minister Eduardo de Pedro launched the day before, and of a former vice-president currently ambassador to Brazil, Daniel Scioli.
Serious unpopularity
It also occurs 24 hours before the close of nominations for the primaries scheduled for August 13, and therefore avoids the ruling coalition, suffering from serious unpopularity once morest a backdrop of out-of-control inflation (114% over twelve months), to have to go through this potentially damaging internal competition.
The Union for the Fatherland expressed its “gratification” to Daniel Scioli and Eduardo de Pedro “for having chosen the unity of Peronism”, in reference to the broad and complex Argentine political current, heir to Juan Domingo Peron, president of 1946 to 1955 then in 1973-74.
The coalition announced that Agustin Rossi, 63, current chief of staff of the Council of Ministers and close to outgoing President Alberto Fernandez, would be a candidate for the vice-presidency on the “ticket” led by Sergio Massa.
Several candidates on the right
The same unity is currently not in place in the opposition, where the (center-right) mayor of Buenos Aires since 2015 Horacio Larreta, 57, and Patricia Bullrich, 67, a right-wing ex-minister of Security under the presidency of the liberal Mauricio Macri (2015-2019), are at this stage pre-candidates.
The name of Sergio Massa had figured for months among possible presidential candidates, following the outgoing Alberto Fernandez, in April, then the ex-head of state and current vice-president Cristina Kirchner, in May, ruled out running once more. .
A lawyer by training, former chief of staff in 2008-2009 under the presidency of Cristina Kirchner, former president of the Chamber of Deputies, Sergio Massa was appointed almost a year ago at the head of a “super- ministry” during a fit of fever in the Argentine economy, with the succession of three ministers in one month.
“If Massa had not taken office, one more day and we (the government, editor’s note) would have to flee by helicopter”, then greeted the former Minister of Territorial Development, Jorge Ferraresi, in reference to a virtue often attributed to Massa, that of knowing how to manage fires. More “political” than really technical, Sergio Massa had the heavy task of tackling inflation, while remaining within the budgetary nails set by the International Monetary Fund.
IMF Satisfaction
The IMF and Argentina, the third largest economy in Latin America, reached an agreement in early 2022 on the refinancing of Argentina’s massive debt, a legacy of a loan of 44 billion dollars contracted in 2018 by the Macri government from the Washington institution.
Sergio Massa has repeatedly attracted the satisfaction of the Fund for “decisive actions” and increased budgetary discipline, (deficit reduced to 2.4% of GDP in 2022, once morest 2.5% fixed by the IMF). Without being able to curb inflation, prevent the regular depreciation of the peso once morest the dollar, or avoid a social backlash, with poverty at nearly 40%.
An important senior civil servant under the Kirchner presidency, he moved away from it to found a more centrist party, the Front Rénovateur, for which he ran for president in 2015, coming in 3rd position, behind the liberal Macri, and the candidate Peronist Daniel Scioli. Sergio Massa has since 2019 moved closer to the Peronist epicenter, managing to keep the ear of Cristina Kirchner, 70, who remains an ultra-dominant figure in the left-wing political space, and undisputed leader of the Peronist current .
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