In Argentina, the Minister of the Economy, Sergio Massa, will be the only candidate of the center-left coalition in power since 2019 for the presidential election on October 22, this coalition announced on Friday June 23.
Mr. 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 after several consultation meetings on Friday and the withdrawal of other pre-candidatures, including those of the Minister of the Interior, Eduardo de Pedro, launched the day before, and a former vice- president currently ambassador to Brazil, Daniel Scioli.
It also occurs twenty-four hours before the close of nominations for the primaries scheduled for August 13, and therefore avoids the ruling coalition, suffering from serious unpopularity against a backdrop of out-of-control inflation (114% out of twelve months), to have to go through this potentially damaging internal competition. The Union for the Homeland expressed its gratitude to Daniel Scioli and Eduardo de Pedro “for having chosen the unity of Peronism, making the collective prevail over the individual”.
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 his candidate for the vice-presidency on the “ticket” led by Mr. Massa.
The same unity is currently not in place in the opposition, where the mayor (center right) of Buenos Aires since 2015, Horacio Larreta, 57, and Patricia Bullrich, 67, a former security minister under the presidency of the liberal Mauricio Macri (2015-2019), are at this stage pre-candidates.
IMF Satisfaction
The name of Mr. Massa had figured for months among possible presidential candidates, after the outgoing Alberto Fernandez, in April, then the ex-head of state and current vice-president, Cristina Kirchner, in May, excluded from represent oneself.
Sergio Massa, a lawyer by training, former chief of staff in 2008-2009 under the presidency of Cristina Kirchner, and ex-president of the Chamber of Deputies, had been appointed almost a year ago at the head of a “super-ministry” of the economy. He had the heavy task of trying to control inflation, while remaining within the budgetary control nails set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The IMF and Argentina, the third largest economy in Latin America, reached an agreement in early 2022 on the refinancing of the country’s massive debt, the legacy of a loan of 44 billion dollars (40 billion euros) contracted in 2018 by the Macri government to the Washington institution.
Mr. Massa has repeatedly won praise from the IMF for “decisive action” and increased fiscal discipline, (the deficit was reduced to 2.4% of gross domestic product in 2022, from 2.5% set by the IMF). Without being able to stem the rise in prices, prevent the regular depreciation of the peso against the dollar, or avoid a social backlash, with poverty affecting nearly 40% of the population.
Seen as pragmatic, consensual – his presidency of the Lower House of Parliament had been hailed as such – Mr. Massa is also highly progressive – or “upstart” according to his detractors. An important senior official under the Kirchner presidency, he moved away from it to found a more centrist party, the Renovating Front, under whose banner he ran for president in 2015, coming in third position, behind the liberal Macri, and Peronist candidate 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 .