How does Bullrich’s support for Milei divide the Argentine opposition and could it benefit Massa?

With an unusual conciliatory tone and leaving aside the harsh complaints he used for months against his rivals, the libertarian Javier Milei He launched an urgent search for support for Argentina’s presidential runoff and the biggest boost he hoped for came soon. On Wednesday, Patricia Bullrich, who until Sunday was a candidate for the center-right coalition Together for Change, announced her support for the leader of Libertad Avanza, who responded by publishing on her social media an image of an effusive hug between a lion and a duck, in reference to both . The alliance, however, resulted in problems for both.

LOOK: Flirting with Bullrich and the left: Milei’s turn to seek the presidency of Argentina

“With Milei we have differences, that’s why we compete. However, we face the dilemma of the mafia changing or continuing. The majority chose change, we represent it (…) The urgency of the time asks us not to be neutral in the face of the continuity of Kirchnerism throughout Mass“, declared Bullrich, who came third in the presidential elections, obtaining 24% of the votes. Milei reached 30%, but came in second place, behind the governing party Sergio Massa, current Minister of Economy, who achieved almost 37% 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 Juntos pela Change, a movement led by former president Mauricio Macri that is also formed by the social democrats of the Radical Civic Union and the Civic Union. Alliance.

But the former candidate’s statement resulted in 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 November 19 second round, as 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 supporting Milei puts the continuity of the coalition at risk.

pic.twitter.com/YefKdgWQC5

-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 home in Acassuso.

“The Pro didn’t even meet. Bullrich and Macri made a unilateral decision. In my opinion, this is abandoning Together for Change“said Martín Lousteau, second vice-president of the UCR national committee.

Former Buenos Aires mayor and PRO leader Horacio Rodríguez Larreta also distanced himself from Bullrich and said he will not support either Massa or Milei.

“Mass is the re-election of Kirchnerist populism, 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 anything he proposes. These are bad and dangerous ideas.“, he said at a press conference.

“This is my personal position. The vote belongs to the people. Everyone freely chooses what to do. I don’t believe that Argentines will vote for what I tell them. I will tell people who to vote for. I can only ask for forgiveness. We regret not being able to provide Argentina with an alternative worthy of what was needed.“, added Rodríguez Larreta, who lost the presidential nomination to Bullrich in the primaries.

Although Juntos pela Change, which continued to be the second force in Congress, did not announce a common position for the second round, the discussion about the second round ended up triggering an internal crisis that was already foreseen.

The main Argentine experts and media already anticipate a fracture or implosion in the country’s largest opposition coalition. Infobae states that from now on Macri should speak more forcefully about the need to support Milei, “although there is expectation about how this position and Bullrich’s will energize the unity of Together for Change”.

The reconciliation and hug with Milei is for people who are going through difficult times. I will never be angry personally when what is at stake is the future of Argentines.#ADosVoices @todonoticias pic.twitter.com/6NKFArs431

– Patrícia Bullrich (@PatoBullrich) October 26, 2023

Gabriel Slavinski, an Argentine psychologist and political consultant, says that Bullrich’s support for Milei had a great impact on the parties that make up Together for Change. “Some supported the measure and others did not. They try to present this as a personal decision by the candidates, but at the party level this complicates the way of facing what is to come in Argentina much more, I think the scenario has become more complicated.,” he tells El Comercio.

For political analyst Carlos Farra, it is clear that there is a rupture due to the ideological positioning in relation to what Javier Milei represents. “On the one hand there is part of the PRO, led by Mauricio Macri, and on the other the rest of Juntos pela Change. The majority of the bloc remains dissatisfied with this agreement with Milei“, he points out.

The questions now point to whether the division in the opposition bloc could benefit Sergio Massa, especially if we consider that there are 10 more points at stake between the unofficial Peronist Juan Schiaretti and Myriam Bregman from the Left Front and the Workers’ Unit. the other two candidates who competed on Sunday.

Slavinski believes that more than benefiting Massa, this crisis in the opposition harms Milei. “What Milei has just done is a very important change of direction in her campaign because she ends up making an alliance with someone she accused of being a ‘political caste’, of being a bully, of planting bombs in kindergartens. He said he would never ally with that party, he said ‘Together for the position’, and he ended up doing that“, he states.

“At least it seems contradictory on its initial basis in which he positioned himself as an outsider, not as a politician, and ends in a circumstance that is difficult to explain.“, To add.

Sergio Massa, Economy Minister of the Peronist government, surprised everyone by being the most voted in the first electoral round. (Getty Images).

In turn, Farra believes that all of this ends up benefiting Sergio Massa. “The party in power won the elections in the first round with all its political strength and the opposition is clearly very fragmented“, he states.

Slavinski highlights that in Argentina the leaders’ decision is relatively relevant, since citizens choose with great freedom and, in addition to the possibility of a party reorganization, this does not reflect exactly how the citizens’ vote will develop.

“People choose freely, more against than for. These movements are useful for this first week, but if they continue with this noise, what they will actually do is help the supported candidate, that is, Milei, to be defeated.“, ends.

Source: Elcomercio