Argentina: Macri is preparing for a second term

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Despite the crisis that Argentina is suffering, Mauricio Macri is one of this year's possible presidential candidate

According to official reports, one in three Argentinians is poor and almost half of the children can not meet their basic needs. In the period of one year, from 2017 to 2018, poverty reached 32%, increasing by 6.3%. As a result, the country is sunk in inflation, recession and the devaluation of the peso against the dollar.

Leer en español: Argentina: Macri va por su segundo mandato

Taking into account that the presidential elections will be held at the end of October 2019, Macri still has a long way to go. The longer it will be if he decides to run for re-election. He does not seem to care that Argentinian citizens perceive him with a 70% negative image of his management in the country.

According to the revelations of Rogelio Frigerio, Minister of the Interior, Public Works and Housing of Argentina, "the candidate for president of Cambiemos is President Mauricio Macri, who will go for re-election," according to EFE. Although the candidates have not been fully decided, this action will take place on August 11 when the elections are held "in which will be defined which candidates will be qualified," according to Cooperativa. The electoral landscape is still uncertain.

Other options are considered

Within the coalition Cambiemos, composed of parties such as the Republican Proposal, the ARI Civic Coalition, the Progressive Democratic Party, the Radical Civic Union, among others, names are being shuffled so as not to lose control of the country. According to the Diario Registrado, if Macri decides to take a step next to his re-election, Alfredo Cornejo, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, and María Eugenia Vidal could be possible candidates.

According to the La Política Online, the pair of María Eugenia Vidal and Martín Lousteau could work if Macri does not run. Vidal is the current governor of the Province of Buenos Aires, while Lousteau serves as a national deputy for the City of Buenos Aires. The above is supported by the survey conducted by Opinania, which shows that the pair "are two of the leaders who best capture the vote of Cambiemos, in a possible retirement of Macri", according to the same media.

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Is Cristina coming back?

The previous thing would happen in elections in which Macri did not accept to appear for re-election. Therefore, another of the strong names for the presidential candidacy is that of the ex-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who lasted 8 years in power.

In spite of being accused by several charges of corruption, the politician could not be imprisoned preventively as she was serving as senator. The most serious of the charges she is accused of recently is the one that claims that Fernández was "head of a 'criminal plan', whose objective was to exchange impunity for commercial benefits with Iran," according to ABC.

However, it is not the first time that the senator is saved from going to prison, since she has imposed any type of legal resources to continue in political life. Thanks to these, it is speculated that she could be presented as a candidate for the presidential elections and, according to El Deber, "Cristina Fernandez is in the lead in the polls and could beat Mauricio Macri if he went to re-election on next October 27".

However, several experts agree that for Macri, Fernandez is the perfect lure to repeat mandate. Despite the accusations and trials to which she has been submitted, Fernández continues to breathe in Argentinian politics. With her as an opponent, Macri could add votes under the premise that the Argentinians would prefer him before Fernandez.

While the first elections will not take place until August, the need to have a political figure outside Macri and Fernandez is necessary to try to change the country that is mired in an economic and social crisis that is getting worse every day.

LatinAmerican Post | Laura Viviana Guevara

Translated from "Argentina: Macri va por su segundo mandato"