Mauricio Macri has accepted Javier Milei’s invitation to form an alliance for the October midterms, potentially boosted the President’s chances of a strong result on voting day.
“We in [the] PRO [party] are always going to be on the side of those who work to end populism, demagoguery and the lack of transparency,” affirmed former president Macri in a post on his X account on Thursday.
The ploy, which realigns the opposition spectrum, marks a turning-point in the relationship between Argentina’s two leading political figures on the right with a clear objective – to join forces to confront Kirchnerism and its allies in an electoral scenario which promises to be more disputed than ever.
During an interview with journalist Luis Majul this week, Milei invited Macri to team up his PRO with La Libertad Avanza (LLA) in an electoral coalition in order “to obliterate Kirchnerism” in the October midterms.
The President’s statement came amid tension between both sides after the Buenos Aires City government announced it would bring forward elections in the capital, wrongfooting the Casa Rosada and sparking verbal and online clashes between both politicians.
But on Thursday, both played nice, indicating that a formal electoral coalition is just a matter of time. Macri’s PRO party has lent several officials to the Milei government and has supported its legislative efforts in both chambers of Congress.
Several former top lieutenants, such as Security Minister Patricia Bullrich, have gone all in, practically leaving PRO and becoming ever closer to Milei’s La Libertad Avanza party.
“We’re ready to form a work team together with whoever you offer to defend the achievements obtained and also advance in an agenda of profound changes and transformations which Argentina still needs,” said Macri, seeking to unblock tensions between both parties.
Along those lines, he closed his message: “We have thrown our convictions and consistency both into the 2023 run-off and legislative support throughout 2024. I am sure that in this infant year we can represent together the banners of change, liberty and the institutions.”
Pawns chosen
Macri wasn’t stopping there. In a separate post minutes later, he named his leading choices to occupy places in lists of candidates or even posts in the Milei government.
In a message published in his social networks, Macri wrote: “Our proposal for the work team consists of the following persons: Cristian Ritondo, Ana Clara Romero, Silvia Lospennato, Hernán Lacunza and Soledad Martínez.”
This group of key PRO names, according to Macri, aims to continue the political work he headed during his presidential term, responding to the country’s challenges.
The ex-president highlighted that the team not only aims to defend his administration’s achievements but also advance in what he considers to be an “agenda of deep changes and transformations.”
A formal sign-up won’t be a novel move for Macri, who used the Cambiemos coalition (grouping members of the Unión Cívica Radical, Coalición Cívica and dissident Peronist sectors) to win the Presidency in 2015, before establishing the Juntos por el Cambio coalition as its successor for the 2019 election, which he lost.
Speculation has grown in recent weeks over who the ruling party would put up in the key battleground of Buenos Aires Province, where La Libertad Avanza will go to the polls for the first time without Milei himself on the ballot. The president ‘s sister, Presidential Chief-of-Staff Karina Milei, and Presidential Spokesperson Manuel Adorni had been tipped as candidates.
However, despite complaints on both sides, Milei and Macri now seem keen on aligning for the crunch October elections.
“I’m ready to discuss issues with Macri,” the President said this week. “I’m actively committed to going for a total nationwide agreement to end Kirchnerism.”
Several PRO leaders have asked Macri to tone down the confrontation and make a deal with Milei, whose conciliatory shift has even wrongfooted his sister and star spin doctor Santiago Caputo.
Differences and complications
Agreeing the next steps, however, will be far from easy.
But aside from the internal differences within both parties, the mechanics to avoid them competing apart is complicated because La Libertad Avanza is loath to accept the PRO claim that in its City stronghold the libertarían candidates should be subordinated to a list drawn up by the cousins Mauricio and Jorge Macri.
According to reports, the PRO offer is that in exchange for La Libertad Avanza bowing down in the City, the yellow party will do the same in Buenos Aires Province, thus allowing LLA control over the lists of candidates for national deputy.
The problem is that Karina Milei has no intention of lowering her head in the City.
– TIMES/NA/PERFIL
