Argentina: Bullrich supports Milei for the second round but denies “government agreement”

Former conservative candidate Patricia Bullrich, who came third in the Argentine presidential elections last Sunday, announced on Wednesday that she will support the libertarian candidate Javier Milei in the November runoff in which he will face the ruling Peronist Sergio Massa.

Bullrich’s decision, announced in a personal capacity, left the powerful center-right coalition Together for Change, until a few months ago the favorite to win the elections in which Massa finally won, on the brink of fracture.

“The majority of Argentines chose a change, we represent part of that change, we have the obligation not to be neutral“Bullrich said in a press conference in which he harshly criticized Massa, who is also the current Minister of Economy.

In the midst of a serious economic crisis, the candidate of the ruling center-left obtained 36.7% of the votes on Sunday, compared to 30% for Milei and 23.8% for Bullrich, which represents the most conservative wing of his alliance.

Bullrich’s support for the libertarian economist was expected by analysts, who also predict that the moderate factions of Together for Change will remain neutral or support Massa for the runoff.

“With Javier Milei we have differences, that is why we have competed. We do not hide them (…) We believe that we must join forces for a higher objective”he added in reference to the supposed need to defeat Peronism in power.

Earlier, representatives of other sectors of Together for Change expressed their neutrality in the second round of elections on November 19 and some even supported Massa, a moderate Peronist who has an advantage for the runoff.

Before Sunday’s elections, the eccentric Milei, who proposed eliminating the central bank and dollarizing the economy, had accused of “murderess” to Bullrich, among other serious outbursts that he fired against the majority of the Argentine political leadership, which he contemptuously calls “breed”.

Although Bullrich denounced Milei to court for the accusation, the libertarian candidate published on Wednesday immediately after the announcement on X – the network formerly known as Twitter – an illustration of a lion, as the economist is nicknamed, hugging a duck, the nickname of the former candidate.

Whoever wins the elections will have to face inflation of 138% annually, poverty of 40% and a critical shortage of foreign currency in the central bank, in addition to a debt of US$ 44 billion contracted in 2018 with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). ).

Bullrich denies “a government agreement” with Milei

The former candidate of the opposition coalition Together for Change (center-right), Patricia Bullrich, denied this Wednesday that she had “a government agreement” with the libertarian candidate for the Presidency, Javier Milei, if he reaches the head of state on November 19 .

“We are not in an agreement with Javier Milei. We state our position towards the society that voted for us (…) There is no pact here, there is no government agreement“, noted the former Minister of Security, who said she represented only the formula that she formed with Luis Petri, who confirmed that “there can be no neutrality here” because it favors the ruling party.

The president of the Republican Proposal (Pro) party, a member of Together for Change, said that on Tuesday night she met with Milei and they talked about the hard personal crossings during the campaign, when he accused her of “bomb thrower pile” in her youth, in reference to her past in the left-wing Peronist guerrilla Montoneros, and she criminally denounced him for insinuating that he had planted explosives in daycare centers.

“We forgive each other“, stated Bullrich, and explained that”Today the country needs us to be able to forgive ourselves because something very important for the future is at stake.”

Bullrich and Petri spoke in favor of Milei on behalf of the 6.2 million citizens who voted for them on Sunday and gave freedom of action to the rest of the Together for Change parties, and insisted that there is no government agreement with Milei: “It is a declaration of a strategic political nature.”

For Bullrich and Petri, neutrality with a view to the second round that will take place on November 19 is functional to Kirchnerism and the danger of “restart“a new Kirchnerist cycle led by Massa, which would take Argentina”to its final decline”.

With information from Reuters and EFE