Macri drops out of presidential race in Argentina
Discussions within the center-right opposition coalition in Argentina were simplified yesterday after former President Mauricio Macri withdrew from the presidential race in an online video announcement.
“I will not be a candidate in the next election,” Mr. Macri said. “I am convinced that we need to keep expanding our coalition for change and that we need to inspire others with our actions.” Mr. Macri served as president from 2015 to 2019, losing his bid for re-election amid a faltering economy.
He compared his coalition to the Argentinian national football team, which won the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, saying, “it was not the leader [captain and star player Lionel Messi] who won, it was the team. The success was thanks to shared responsibilities, and I believe that government should work in the same way.”
His words suggested that he still sees himself as the leader of the ruling coalition, just as Lionel Messi is the leader of the national team, but that he will cede prominence in order to achieve a greater good.
Analysts argued that the statement also echoed the words of centrist candidate Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, a key member of Mr. Macri’s opposition coalition, during the launch of his presidential campaign. Mr. Larreta had called for “ending divisions” and avoiding “messianic leadership.”
As a former president whose re-election bid failed amid a debt and currency crisis, Mr. Macri has a solid base of supporters but also many detractors. With him out of the race, it will be up to Mr. Larreta and the more right-wing former security minister, Patricia Bullrich, to battle it out in the center-right coalition’s primaries.
Mr. Macri has often been portrayed as closer to Ms. Bullrich and the “hawks” in his coalition, while Mr. Larreta is seen as a “dove,” more inclined to dialogue with the ruling Peronist coalition.
According to recent reports, Messrs. Macri and Larreta have reached an agreement in which Jorge Macri, the former president’s cousin, will be the candidate to replace Mr. Larreta as mayor of the city of Buenos Aires. In exchange, the former president will not openly support Ms. Bullrich during the primaries.
A more orderly primary is good news for the opposition coalition, which is favored to unseat the ruling Peronist alliance amid 100 percent annual inflation rates and severe recession forecasts.
Despite these advantages, they will still have to fend off a challenger from their right, libertarian economist Javier Milei, who has gained support with bold statements such as the need to “burn down” Argentina’s central bank and could split the right-wing vote.
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