Former Argentine President Mauricio Macri announced Sunday that he will not run as a presidential candidate in the upcoming general elections on October 22.
The referent of the PRO and the opposition coalition Juntos por el Cambio made the announcement in a video published on social networks, in which he lashed out at the president Alberto Fernández.
“I do it convinced that we have to enlarge the political space of the change that we initiated. And that we have to inspire others with our actions,” said Macri, who was president of Argentina in the period 2015-2019.
In this way, the former president leaves the way clear for the other candidates of Together for Change, in view of the PASO (Primary, Open, Simultaneous and Mandatory elections), scheduled for August 13.
So far, the head of the government of the city of Buenos Aires, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, the president of the PRO, Patricia Bullrich, and the head of the Radical Party and governor of the province have announced their intention to present themselves as candidates for president for that political space. from Jujuy, Gerardo Morales, as well as the also radical Facundo Manes.
Bullrich described the decision of the 64-year-old ex-governor as historic. “Even being able to become president again, he has prioritized the interests of our country before his own, as very few leaders have done in Argentine history,” he said on his Twitter account.
While on the side of the ruling Frente de Todos, there are several possible candidates, including President Fernández himself.
The ambassador in Brazil, Daniel Scioli, the leader Juan Grabois, who could share a ticket with the governor of the province of Buenos Aires, Axel Kicillof, and the former director of Banco Nación, Claudio Lozano, have also slipped their intention to do so.
Furthermore, in political circles there is talk of the Minister of the Economy, Sergio Maza, and the Minister of the Interior, Eduardo de Pedro, as possible competitors to the Casa Rosada.
Several of them would be willing to get out of the fight in the event that Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who a few months ago assured that she would not compete because she was “outlawed” (in reference to her legal cases), finally decides to present herself for Kirchnerism.
On June 14, the date for the registration of electoral alliances expires. And ten days later is the deadline to present the lists of candidates who will compete in the polls in October.
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