Patricia Bullrich, third in the recent Argentine presidential elections, announced this Wednesday her support for the ultra-liberal populist candidate Javier Milei for the November 19 runoff. The decision accelerates the implosion of the social-liberal coalition Together for Change (JxC), the great objective shared by Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Sergio Massa.
“With Javier Milei we have differences, that is why we have competed, we do not hide them. The majority of Argentines chose a change, we represent part of that change, we have the obligation not to be neutral,” Bullrich declared in a press conference in his offices in the center of Buenos Aires with his running mate, the radical (social democrat) Luis Petri.
Bullrich obtained 23.8% of the votes last Sunday against Milei’s 30% and Massa’s 36.7%. Thus, JxC was left out of the runoff.
“Here is the formula that was democratically chosen in the primaries, we do not come representing our parties, but rather representing having had the support of 6.2 million Argentines. We are not going to abandon those Argentines. Both Luis and “I will always defend them. As San Martín said, when the country is in danger, everything is allowed except not defending it.”
“The urgency of the moment challenges us not to be neutral in the face of the danger of the continuity of Kirchnerism through Sergio Massa. Cristina, Alberto and Massa have united us in this decline for 20 years. Argentina, from our point of view, cannot begin “a new Kirchnerist cycle led by Massa. It would condemn Argentina to its final decline.”
Petri insisted that the decision does not represent either the PRO, the right-wing liberal party chaired by Bullrich, or the social democratic Radical Civic Union (UCR), which he is a member of: “We do it in a personal capacity and as a formula. It cannot be “neutral at this moment, because that is being functional to Kirchnerism.”
Bullrich assured that he did not negotiate positions in a possible Milei Government.
“We do not talk about governments, we are not in an agreement or pact with Javier MIlei. We say what our position is towards the society that voted for us. There is no pact, agreement or co-government dialogue. It is only the political and strategic position “which we believe is good for Argentina. If Kirchnerism wins, Together for Change will go towards a total dissolution, because we already know their practices.”
Bullrich’s announcement gave the official starting signal for a very probable implosion of JxC, a coalition born in 2015 under the name Cambiemos and whose great glue was the intention of putting an end to twelve and a half years of Kirchnerist governments. They achieved it in 2015, with the victory of Mauricio Macri over Daniel Scioli, and despite the 2019 defeat against Alberto Fernández, the 41% of the votes obtained predicted a good future for the coalition.
JxC decisively defeated Peronism, nine points ahead, in the 2021 parliamentary elections, and the coalition already saw itself back in the Casa Rosada in December 2023. The appearance of Milei, who took away part of their electorate, and above all all the banners of novelty and change, plunged the coalition into strategic confusion. And last Sunday, Massa’s victory in the first round put the JxC in an impossible situation.
Macri received Bullrich and Milei on Tuesday night for a dinner in which they ironed out differences and which was the basis for this Wednesday’s announcement by the frustrated presidential candidate.
“Last night I had a meeting with Javier Milei in which we had a talk about what those statements had been,” confirmed Bullrich, whom Milei called “a bully, a bomb-thrower and a murderer” during the campaign. “We forgive each other, today the country needs us to be able to forgive each other because something very important for the future is at stake.”
Given the certainty that Bullrich would support Milei, Elisa Carrió, founder of JxC and leader of one of its legs, the Civic Coalition (CC), harshly attacked the decision and, above all, Macri.
“His dark side won over Macri. He is the one who breaks, and poor Patricia is going to make a historic mistake,” said Carrió, a great whistleblower of corruption in Argentina and staunch rival of Fernández de Kirchner.
Years ago, Carrió had stated that his political limit was Macri and that he would never agree with him. She changed, however, that position and was the main strategist to dethrone Kirchnerism from power in 2015. The leader of the CC was, however, increasingly disappointed by Macri’s movements in recent times, until she exploded.
“I don’t talk to Macri anymore. I realized his dark area: I’ve told him, I’m not a card in your bridge game. I had anticipated that Macri was going to wear down Horacio (Rodríguez Larreta, defeated in the primaries) “, hand over Patricia and go with Milei. For me it was predictable, Macri always played for Milei and for the destruction of Together for Change.”
“The republican cause remains, men and women pass. Freedom is not desire, freedom is responsibility. We are not going to submit to any extortion, even if it comes from the people. We do not agree with the sale of children or “the legalization of drug trafficking. Kirchnerism has already won, because Macri was wrong with the strategy. The vote must be challenged and whoever is going to vote must be held responsible.”
This Wednesday afternoon, the UCR meets, a historic party with a social democratic profile that received all kinds of attacks and disqualifications from Milei, who defines its historic leader Raúl Alfonsin, president between 1983 and 1989, as a “hyperinflationary failure.” The more than century-old party is divided, although the majority position seems to be not to lean towards one candidate or the other.
“Together they have incentives to remain united, because if Massa wins he would be the main opposition, with the largest number of parliamentarians and governors,” political analyst Facundo Nejamkis highlighted on the LN television signal. “What’s happening is that they’re not seeing those incentives.”
Bullrich’s move to the forefront crowns an astonishing movement of political plates in Argentina: Milei was promoted by Kirchnerism and Massism, which provided him with candidates for his lists, financing and oversight of the elections. But, once it was confirmed that the Casa Rosada will be contested between Milei and Massa, the Peronist candidate frontally attacked the ultraliberal, who now becomes the banner of stopping Kirchnerism, although moderated and supervised by Bullrich and Macri.
