Argentine Economy Minister to run for president

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
24 Jun 2023 08:15

While Argentina's Economy Minsiter says he will run for president, Agustin Rossi, the current cabinet chief for President Alberto Fernandez, will run as vice-presidential candidate.

Argentina's Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, at a press conference in Buenos Aires, August 3, 2022. (AFP)

Argentina's economy minister, Sergio Massa, will run as the presidential candidate for the ruling center-left Peronist bloc in October elections, the coalition announced on Friday.

Additionally, Agustin Rossi, current cabinet chief for President Alberto Fernandez, will run as vice-presidential candidate, the Homeland Union bloc said in a tweet.

The decision removes Ambassador to Brazil Daniel Scioli and Interior Minister Eduardo "Wado" de Pedro from contention as aspirants for the ruling bloc.

"For institutional, political and social responsibility, our space has decided to form a unity list ... Our candidate for president will be @SergioMassa and accompanying him as a candidate for vice president will be @RossiAgustinOk," the tweet said.

It is worth noting that Argentina will run primary elections on August 13, and the first round of the presidential election is on October 22.

Massa, a 51-year-old lawyer, has served as an economy minister for 11 months during a period of soaring inflation (114 percent year-on-year) and a drop in hard currency reserves.

Before serving in the Fernandez cabinet, Massa was president of the Chamber of Deputies.

In 2008 and 2009, he was chief of staff to then-president Cristina Kirchner, who is now vice-president, and with whom Massa had a bitter falling out until they reconciled for the 2019 elections won by Fernandez with Kirchner on the ticket.

The center-right opposition coalition Together for Change (Juntos por el Cambio) will run two candidates in the primaries: Buenos Aires Mayor Horacio Rodriguez Larreta, 57, and former security minister Patricia Bullrich, 67.

Kirchner and Fernandez both opted not to run again. Mauricio Macri, a former center-right president who presided from 2015 to 2019, likewise opted not to run for reelection.

The winner of the presidential election will take office on December 10 for a four-year term.