On 22 February, Argentina’s Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, the head of the government of the city of Buenos Aires (CABA), signalled that he would launch his bid for the October 2023 presidential election.
Analysis:
Larreta had long been viewed as a leading presidential contender for the centre-right opposition Juntos por el Cambio (JxC) coalition. The launch of his bid comes as the ruling Frente de Todos (FdT) coalition government led by President Alberto Fernández is struggling to rally around a candidate. The incumbent government, beset by infighting, was further weakened yesterday when four of its senators announced they would leave the coalition to form their own bloc. This loss means JxC now has more seats than FdT in the 72-member senate.
- Larreta signalled his intentions with a cryptic social media post, stating: “It is time to have the courage to transform the country for good.” According to a spokesperson for Larreta, consulted by news agency Reuters and to local media reports, Larreta is expected to announce his bid with an official video and press conference today (23 February).
- In a recent poll by local consultancy Circuitos, shared by Argentine weekly Perfil, former security minister (2015-2019) Patricia Bullrich, president of the opposition Propuesta Republicana (PRO), was the current frontrunner in a hypothetical presidential race, with 22.3% of the voting intentions, followed by the far-right contender Javier Milei (16.3%), leader of libertarian party La Libertad Avanza, while Larreta was in third place (15.5%). All three candidates performed better than the incumbent Fernández (7%).
- In a further blow to the government, four FdT senators - Guillermo Snopek, Edgardo Kueider, Carlos Espínola, and María Eugenia Catalfano – yesterday announced they were breaking from the FdT to form their own bloc, Unidad Federal, along with senator Alejandra Vigo. This leaves FdT with only 31 seats, opposite JxC’s 33. In a statement, the senators said they were seeking to provide an alternative bloc “without rifts” and in which “unity, respect and dialogue” would prevail.
Looking Ahead: In a press release, the senate stated that Vice President Cristina Fernández, head of the senate, had received a letter from Snopek, who will head up the new bloc, notifying her that his decision was motivated by the “increasing distance” he felt from the direction of President Fernández’s administration. He said he would officially leave the FdT bloc from 1 March.
