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sandensea

(21,530 posts)
Tue Jun 11, 2019, 05:25 PM Jun 2019

Argentine elections: Macri drops VP Gabriela Michetti from ticket

Argentine President Mauricio Macri announced today that Vice President Gabriela Michetti will not be on his right-wing "Let's Change" coalition's 2019 ticket.

Macri picked Senator Miguel Ángel Pichetto as his running mate instead - a surprise choice to most local political analysts.

Pichetto, 68, is the current Senate Minority Leader and had headed the opposition Justicialist Party (PJ) caucus since 2002.

A staunch ally of Macri's most visible opponent, former President Cristina Kirchner, during her 2007-15 tenure, Pichetto has lurched steadily to the right since Macri was narrowly elected in late 2015.

His hard-line stance on immigration and crime, as well as his frequent diatribes on the ongoing Venezuelan crisis (an issue of little interest to most Argentine voters), have led critics to brand him as the "Argentine Bolsonaro" - in reference to Brazil's neo-fascist President Jair Bolsonaro.

Pichetto had sought his party's nomination for this year's election but had seldom polled above 1%. He endorsed Macri on June 4, and following today's announcement resigned his post as PJ caucus leader.

Running on empty

Michetti's replacement was widely expected: She faces charges over alleged campaign money laundering through her right-wing think tank SUMA, and her gruff manner and ineptitude while presiding the senate has eroded her image.

Most, however, believed Macri would tap someone from the junior partners in his 'Let's Change' coalition, the centrist UCR - on whose votes Macri won in 2015; but who since have largely been ignored.

The move comes as Macri's re-election chances have faded in the face of a sharp recession, the highest inflation in 27 years, and the Extortiongate scandal - involving Macri's alleged use of Argentina Federal Intelligence to both frame opponents and extract ransom payments.

Inflation in April hit 56%, among the highest in the world, while the economy shrank 6.2% in March from the same time last year.

Since the recession began following the collapse of Macri's 2016-17 carry-trade debt bubble, some 296,000 registered jobs have been lost as of March - equivalent to 2.2 million jobs lost in the U.S.

Recent polls show Macri losing to center-left PJ candidate Alberto Fernández, with Mrs. Kirchner as his running mate, by 13%.

"Macri today has over 100 criminal complaints against him," Pichetto himself had said in February. "When his term ends, he'll go straight to federal court."

At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&tab=wT&sl=es&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pagina12.com.ar%2F199692-pichetto-vice-de-macri



President Mauricio Macri (right), and his new running mate, right-wing Senator Miguel Ángel Pichetto.

While Macri's decision to drop the gruff, unpopular Michetti was not unexpected, his refusal to pick someone from the UCR - the long-ignored junior partners in his "Let's Change" coalition - has further strained relations with UCR leaders and voters.
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