2023-10-28 16:01:41
LOOK: Flirting with Bullrich and the left: Milei’s turn in search of the presidency of Argentina
“With Milei we have differences, that is why we have competed. However, we are faced with the dilemma of change or mafia continuity. The majority chose change, we represent it (…) The urgency of time asks us not to be neutral in the face of the continuity of Kirchnerism through Massa,” declared Bullrich, who came in third place in the presidential elections by obtaining 24% of the vote. the votes. Milei achieved 30%, but was second behind the ruling party Sergio Massa, current Minister of Economy, who reached almost 37% of support.
Bullrich, whom Milei accused at the time of belonging to the ‘political caste’, gave his support to the libertarian candidate on an individual basis. He clarified that he was not speaking on behalf of his Republican Proposal party (PRO, right), nor of Together for Change, the movement of former President Mauricio Macri that is also made up of the social democrats of the Radical Civic Union and the Civic Coalition.
But the former candidate’s statement translated into a schism for the opposition bloc. The Radical Civic Union (UCR) announced yesterday that it will not support any of the presidential candidates in the second round on November 19, since none of them “guarantee a future of progress for Argentina.”
The president of the UCR, Ernesto Sanz, described Bullrich’s decision as unilateral and warned that support for Milei puts the continuity of the coalition at risk.
— Javier Milei (@JMilei) October 25, 2023
Several voices from the opposition bloc criticized the meeting that Macri and Bullrich held on Tuesday night with Milei and her sister, Karina, at the former president’s house in Acassuso.
“The Pro didn’t even meet. Bullrich and Macri made a unilateral decision. In my opinion, that is abandoning Together for Change,” said Martín Lousteau, second vice president of the UCR national committee.
The outgoing mayor of Buenos Aires and leader of the PRO, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, also distanced himself from Bullrich and said that he will not support either Massa or Milei.
“Massa is the re-election of Kirchnerist populism, of the disaster of this government, of continuing to live in a country taken over by the mafia. On the other hand, Milei is a new populism, a leap into the void. I don’t believe in anything he proposes. “They are bad, dangerous ideas,” she said at a press conference.
“This is my personal position. The vote belongs to the people. Each one freely chooses what to do. I don’t believe that Argentines are going to vote what I tell them. I’m going to tell the people who to vote for. I can only ask for forgiveness. Sorry for not having been able to give Argentina an alternative worthy of what was needed,” added Rodríguez Larreta, who lost the presidential nomination to Bullrich in the primaries.
Divided coalition
Although Together for Change, which remained the second force in Congress, has not announced a common position for the second round, the discussion over the runoff ended up triggering an internal crisis that was already foreseen.
The main Argentine experts and media are already anticipating a fracture or implosion in the largest opposition coalition in the country. Infobae affirms that from now on Macri is expected to speak more forcefully regarding the need to support Milei, “while there is expectation regarding the way in which this position and that of Bullrich will dynamit the unity of Together for Change.”
The reconciliation and hug with Milei is for the people who are having a hard time. I will never be left with personal anger when what is at stake is the future of the Argentines.#ADosVoces @todonoticias pic.twitter.com/6NKFArs431
— Patricia Bullrich (@PatoBullrich) October 26, 2023
Gabriel Slavinski, Argentine psychologist and political consultant, affirms that Bullrich’s support for Milei has had a high impact on the parties that make up Together for Change. “Some have supported the measure and others have not. They try to present it as a personal decision of the candidates, but at the party level that complicates much more the way of facing what is coming in Argentina, I think the scenario has become complicated,” he tells El Comercio.
For political analyst Carlos Farra it is clear that there is a rupture due to the ideological positioning regarding what Javier Milei represents. “On the one hand there is a part of the PRO, led by Mauricio Macri, and on the other hand all the rest of Together for Change. “The majority of the bloc is dissatisfied with this agreement with Milei,” he points out.
Benefit Massa?
The questions now point to whether the division in the opposition bloc might benefit Sergio Massa, especially if one considers that there are 10 more points at stake between the non-official Peronist Juan Schiaretti and Myriam Bregman of the Left Front and the Workers-Unity , the other two candidates who competed on Sunday.
Slavinski believes that more than benefiting Massa, this crisis in the opposition harms Milei. “What Milei just did is a very important change of direction in her campaign because she is ending up making an alliance with someone whom he accused of being a ‘political caste’, of being a bully, of putting bombs in kindergartens. He said that he was never going to ally himself with that party, he told them ‘Together for the position’, and he ended up doing it,” he says.
“At the least it seems contradictory on its initial basis in which he positioned himself as an outsider, not a politician, and ends in a circumstance that is difficult to explain,” he adds.
Sergio Massa, the Minister of Economy of the Peronist government, surprised everyone by being the most voted in the first electoral round. (Getty Images).
For his part, Farra believes that all this ends up benefiting Sergio Massa. “The ruling party won the election in the first round with all of his political strength and the opposition is clearly very fragmented,” he says.
Slavinski highlights that in Argentina the decision of the leaders is relatively relevant, since the citizens choose quite freely and, beyond the fact that there may be a party reorganization, this does not reflect exactly how the citizens’ vote will develop.
“People choose freely, more once morest than for. These movements are useful for this first week, but if they continue with this noise, what they are actually going to do is help the supported candidate, that is, Milei, be defeated,” he concludes.
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