“The Argentines decided the course and the strength that we must have in Together for Change. Now we are going to work together for the profound change that we need in this Argentina,” Bullrich said in a message posted Wednesday on the X social network, formerly called Twitter, accompanied by a photograph with the mayor of Buenos Aires, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta.
Bullrich, 67, defeated Larreta in the open, simultaneous and mandatory primaries last Sunday and became the candidate for the presidency of Together for Change for the October 22 elections. Although the polls predicted that this force – which governed the country between 2015 and 2019 – would be the most voted in PASO, the far-right economist Milei shook the political board by coming first with 30% of the votes.
Third was the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, something unprecedented in the history of Peronism.
Milei, leader of La Libertad Avanza and who reached his first political position as a deputy in 2021, attracted a large percentage of Argentines who were disenchanted with the traditional political class due to their inability to control inflation and insecurity.
The analyzes after Sunday revealed that the result in favor of Milei was also influenced by the strong internal role played by Bullrich and Larreta.
“In the eyes of ordinary citizens, who are overwhelmed by inflation (113% year-on-year in July), that their salary is not enough… worried about insecurity, worried because when they go to the supermarket they don’t know how much is going to pay, in the middle of that they see the fight as a frivolity”, warned Orlando D’Adamo, director of the Center of Public Opinion of the University of Belgrano.
He added that “people don’t like to see that and it takes its toll on them. The big beneficiary of that is Milei.”
Seeking to avoid a further flight of votes and keep Juntos por el Cambio in the race for the presidency, Bullrich and Larreta were close, accompanied by their respective running mates and, at least to the outside, implied that they are in the same boat. .
“With Patricia we are more together than ever and we are going to work side by side to bring profound change to all of Argentina,” Larreta also expressed on social networks.
But will these demonstrations of goodwill be enough?
“The return of Juntos por el Cambio to government is now in doubt,” said Mariano Machado, principal analyst for the Americas at London-based risk intelligence consultancy Verisk Maplecroft.
Bullrich, with a speech in favor of a strong hand against criminals and implementing deep reforms, who on many points coincides with Milei, now finds himself in the dilemma of attracting Larreta’s more moderate voters but at the same time avoiding a leak of his support base towards the far-right candidate.
Machado noted another aspect that Bullrich should not underestimate: Peronism.
“He came third in a presidential election for the first time in history. However, the result places the ruling coalition just 250,000 votes behind Juntos por el Cambio, making a second-place finish in October an achievable task for the country’s largest party machine.
For a candidate to win in the first round, they must obtain 45% of the votes or at least 40% and have a difference of 10 or more percentage points over the second most voted. If these figures are not reached, the two most voted applicants will go to a ballot on November 19.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
