Argentina's political coalitions define tickets for this year's elections
With just hours until the deadline for registering candidates for this year's federal elections in Argentina, the country's leading coalitions have announced their respective tickets for first-round elections scheduled for August 13th.
Economy Minister Sergio Massa, 51, will run for president as the sole candidate for the ruling, center-left Peronist coalition - recently rebranded as Unión por la Patria ('Unity for the Homeland').
An 11th-hour agreement resulted in two other major Peronist candidates - left-wing Interior Minister Eduardo de Pedro, 46, and centrist Ambassador to Brazil Daniel Scioli, 66 - bowing out in favor of Massa, who now faces only token primary opposition from left-wing activist Juan Grabois, 40.
The pragmatic Massa, widely credited with averting a collapse since taking office last July, has struggled with inflation reaching 114% - partly the product of a severe debt and currency crisis inherited from right-wing President Mauricio Macri in 2019.
Outgoing President Alberto Fernández's Cabinet Chief, Agustín Rossi, 63, will be Massa’s running mate. Facing 20% approval, Fernández, 64, has opted out running for re-election.
Vice President Cristina Kirchner, 70 - the most popular figure among Peronist voters, but who's currently appealing a conviction for public works bid-rigging during her 2007-15 presidency - is likewise not running.
Divided opposition?
The main opposition, the right-wing 'Together for Change' (JxC) coalition, on the other hand remains divided between five tickets - with most JxC votes likely to be divided between a moderate wing led by Buenos Aires Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, 57, and Macri's hard-line former Security Minister Patricia Bullrich, 67.
In an apparent bid to counter Bullrich's appeal among hard-right voters, Larreta tapped Jujuy Province Governor Gerardo Morales, 63, as his running mate.
Morales reaped controversy this week for his crackdown of protests that erupted after he fast-tracked a provincial constitutional overhaul that restricted rights to protest and strike and stripped indigenous peoples of land rights.
Neo-fascist wild card
The two major coalitions are getting stiff competition this year from neo-fascist "libertarian" candidate Javier Milei, 52.
Running with far-right Congresswoman Victoria Villaruel, 48, a vocal apologist of the country's fascist last dictatorship, Milei has vowed to "dynamite" the Central Bank and other government institutions, dollarize the economy (despite a near-total lack of dollars to compensate the nearly 30 trillion pesos in deposits and circulation), and deregulate everything from the economy to organ transplants and adoptions.
Milei and Villaruel have slammed the country's progressive abortion, women's, disabled, and LGBT rights - a position shared with many in the more mainstream JxC coalition.
Indeed, polls show that Milei's Libertad Avanza ('Forward Liberty') ticket might peel enough support from JxC to hand Massa a victory in the second round on October 22nd. Their appeal outside Buenos Aires, however, is limited.
At: https://buenosairesherald.com/politics/elections/union-por-la-patria-announces-massa-and-rossi-as-only-presidential-ticket
Leading Argentine presidential candidates Sergio Massa (center-left, representing the governing coalition), Patricia Bullrich (hard-right), Javier Milei (far-right), and Horacio Rodríguez Larreta (center-right).
Polling shows an advantage for Rodríguez Larreta - but with no clear majority for any candidate or coalition. Some 25% of voters, in turn, may vote blank - the highest such figure, if reached, since the country's 2001 crisis.
While job creation remains strong, inflation has reached 114% in the severely-indebted country.
