The candidate of the “Together for Change” coalition, Patricia Bullrich, who came in third place in the first round of the Argentine presidential elections, announced her support for extremist Javier Miley, who will face Peronist Sergio Massa on November 19. The decision fractured anti-Peronist forces and shocked more moderate forces.
A few days ago, Miley could be heard falsely accusing Bullrich of planting bombs in kindergartens. The former Minister of Security described the ideas put forward by Milley as “dangerous.” Everything seems like water under the bridge now. On Wednesday, Bullrich revealed his intention to support the extreme liberal economist, who came in second place in the first round on Sunday.
“When the homeland is in danger, anything goes,” declared the former presidential candidate, paraphrasing General José de San Martín, one of Argentina’s liberation heroes. The “danger” that Bullrich alluded to is that Peronism remains in power through Massa, who was Minister of Economy in the outgoing government. He considered it more dangerous than the situation of a man who wants to end the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance in Argentina. Education and dropping any remnants of the social state.
“We have a commitment not to be neutral,” Bullrich said, explaining that “there were no prior negotiations” with Miley.
The support of Bullrich, who received more than six million votes in the first round, is a strong boost for Millie, who needs to get a lot of support to overcome Massa’s lead. Immediately on election night, the economist – who was considered the favorite in most opinion polls – immediately called for an understanding with other anti-Peronist forces, bringing about a significant change in his position of always challenging the traditional political class, “class”.
Bulrich’s decision, which was made between the candidate and former President Mauricio Macri alone, surprised many leaders of the parties that form Together for Change. The head of the Buenos Aires city government, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, who was a candidate in the primaries against Bullrich, was one of the main critics of the decision, recalling that Miley is “on the fringes of democracy.”
“The Mass is the re-election of Kirchnerian populism. The third alternative is to work to keep the “Together for Change” initiative as strong as possible so that it can be an alternative.”
Other leaders related to the coalition, such as the head of the radical Civic Union, Gerardo Morales, expressed their refusal to accept Miley’s support and criticized Bullrich and Macri.
Analysts consider the collapse of the coalition that has managed since 2015 to unite the anti-Peronist forces and concentrate them as a unified pole of opposition to the government. “The society between Morales, Macri and Bullrich was always a society devoid of love. And so it ended,” wrote Claudio Jacquelin. No nation.
At the end of the day, Bullrich and Miley appeared together on a TV show on TN, where they were smiling, hugging and exchanging a few words. “What a revolution we have created,” Miley told her new political partner.
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