Former president Mauricio Macri met with his inner circle on Wednesday amid rumours regarding his re-election as the head of the right-wing PRO party.
The summit of key leaders took place in Vicente López, when the 2015-2019 head of state returned to Buenos Aires following spending the last two months at Cumelén country club in Villa La Angostura, Patagonia.
Those in attendance at this week’s meeting included Buenos Aires City Mayor Jorge Macri; the head of the PRO caucus in the lower house of the House of Representatives, Christian Ritondo; former Buenos Aires City education minister Soledad Cuña; General Pueyrredon Major William Montenegro; Buenos Aires Province lawmaker Diego Santilli; the head of the Buenos Aires City Cabinet, Nestor Grindetti; and Macri’s former secretary general to the presidency, Fernando De Andreis.
Macri’s return to the helm of the party he founded in 2005 has been long trailed. He set up PRO in order to win election as Buenos Aires City mayor, a feat he achieved two years later.
Multiple outlets reported this week that the move is likely to happen in the coming weeks.
Patricia Bullrich, Macri’s former security minister who has once once more taken up the post under new President Javier Milei, was the party’s leader for the majority of the last four years, only stepping down to run as a presidential candidate last year.
The authorities of PRO – which together with the Radical Civic Union and the Civic Coalition makes up the Together for Change coalition – is seeking renewal following failing to win last year’s election.
Ritondo, an ally of Bullrich, is expected to be appointed as the leader of PRO’s branch in Buenos Aires Province, whereas Jorge Macri – formerly Vicente López mayor – might be named the head of the party’s grouping in the capital.
Talks over a possible merger of PRO with Milei’s La Libertad Avanza are on hold for now. Local reporting says neither Macri or Milei want to be seen as in full alliance with each other, despite the former head of state’s backing of the president’s reform plans.
– TIMES/IN/PROFILE
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