Thomson ReutersMacri, presidential candidate of Cambiemos (Let’s Change) coalition sings after election in Buenos AiresBUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Mauricio Macri, Argentina’s opposition challenger in next month’s presidential run-off vote, said on Tuesday he wanted to find common ground with defeated candidate Sergio Massa and that the two camps were in touch with each other.
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Argentina’s ruling party standard-bearer is trying to quash rumors that outgoing President Cristina Fernandez is lukewarm about his candidacy on the heels of a disappointing first-round election finish.
Next to Cordoba governor Jose Manuel De la Sota, political ally Gustavo Saenz and former economy minister Roberto Lavagna, a presenter read out the document with the list of demands from the group’s political definition and later said that “that candidate who decides to follow the proposals most probably will have the greater chances of attracting the majority of the 5.2 million votes that supported the Renewal Front”.
Massa’s camp says the policy blueprint will lean heavily on his first-round campaign pledges: fighting inflation, scrapping the income tax for workers and removing hefty taxes on corn and wheat exports. The International Monetary Fund predicts that the nation’s economy will shrink 0.7% in 2016, meaning that whoever wins may be inheriting a poisoned chalice. “Now what we need to construct is intelligent change”. She is hailed by the poor for expanding social welfare programs and protecting local industry but loathed by others who blame her for strangling the economy.
However change must be built intelligently so that it does not mean going back or misbalances in society, pointed out Massa who added that “every Argentine is owner of his vote, dreams and expectations”. Macri promises to quickly dismantle her trade and currency controls.
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Massa broke from the ruling party in 2013 and is a strong critic of Fernandez. “But in any case, it is not a vote for the Front for Victory”, said Lavagna, who had served under Nestor Kirchner before splitting with him.
