Macri, the other winner of the Argentine election after betting on Milei

Veronica Dalto

Buenos Aires, Nov 20 (EFE). – Former Argentine president Mauricio Macri (2015-2019) was the other big winner of the Argentine elections after betting on the far-right Javier Milei, who was elected president in the second round on Sunday.

Now that Milei has won the elections, Macri “will try to become the great architect” of his government, political scientist Carlos Fara told EFE.

According to him, this “will bring conflicts” because the libertarian “will not allow a takeover” of the executive, since he is a man “of vehement personality”.

Macri, a member of the Together for Change (center-right) coalition, had Patricia Bullrich as his presidential candidate, but on October 22 she was eliminated from the runoff.

Once the coalition was out, Maccri and Milei immediately promoted the “Acassuso Pact,” which established unilateral support for Milei’s candidacy and was signed in Maccri’s house in that city.

For Macri, Milei’s triumph is “a philosophical victory, a cultural victory”. In fact, the former president flirted with the idea of including him in his coalition.

Precisely because “his ideas won,” Macri “needs Milei to do well,” says Fara, because it will be difficult for him to support a government that makes decisions outside its norms or that does not work.

The former president supported Milei because he believed that society, and especially young people, had chosen the ultra-liberal economist to lead the change that Argentina needed.

“We wanted to lead the change that Argentina needs, but it was not enough for us. A mixture of our own mistakes and Milei’s virtues built a different scene,” read Macri’s last message on social media before Sunday’s vote.

“The youngest have made the decision to choose Milei to lead the change,” he said, “so now, with humility, we must recognize and support this will. We can promote this change, which has a different name, and contribute our experience, our serenity and our desires,” he suggested.

This support is an attempt to “moderate” an eccentric candidate who, during the campaign, walked around with a chainsaw to illustrate his promise to cut public spending, who promised to abolish the Central Bank and dollarize the economy, and who has been called “crazy” for his temperamental reactions.

Milei accepted Macri’s collaboration, and it was then that the former president brought a factor of governability to a personalist force without structure or organization, which has few deputies and senators, and which also lacks professionals to occupy the ministries.

“(Macri) had to support to give guidance to his own audience, but at the same time he could not have a high role so as not to overshadow Milei’s figure,” says Fara, alluding to the hypothesis of a double command.

“It made sense” because he “was not the star of the campaign, (but) he was supportive,” he added.

Macri and Bullrich’s strategy of support allowed part of the 6.2 million votes that the losing coalition Together for Change had received in the first round of the presidential election to be redirected to Milei.

Realignment

Now a realignment of the internal forces of Together for Change and the bench of both forces in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate is expected.

The conservative coalition was already on the verge of breaking up because leaders of the other parties that make it up, such as the Radical Civic Union (UCR) and the Civic Coalition (CC), strongly criticized Macri’s support for La Libertad Avanza and called for them to declare themselves neutral in the second round.

Milei has always treated Macri with respect, even saying that he would like to see him in a diplomatic position in a possible government of his.