13 weeks after the closing of the lists, Mauricio Macri ended one of the uncertainties that generated tension in Together for Change and especially in the referents of the PRO with presidential aspirations.
The former president
announced that this year he will not be a candidate, a decision celebrated among the leaders of the opposition coalition, due to the perception that
at least in part it will clear the panorama
and lead to other definitions.
For now, he will speed up an internal one within his party: the one that
has been facing Horacio Rodríguez Larreta and Patricia Bullrich for months
, with María Eugenia Vidal asking for a clue from behind.
"
I want to confirm that I will not be a candidate in the next election
. I do it convinced that we must enlarge the political space for the change that we started and that we have to inspire others with our actions," Macri said in a video of just over six minutes, broadcast on social networks.
"I am confident that they will choose the one who best represents us and that this person will have everyone's support.
We will never again have a puppet as president
," thus leaving the resolution of the PRO presidential candidate open to the public. competition, although he had already warned that he will be "even-handed" but not "impartial" in that dispute.
"He will be the guarantor of the change
. If someone does not guarantee it, he will say so," translated the closest leaders of him.
Macri made the announcement after holding meetings with Larreta and Vidal.
Beyond the fact that he gave indications that he was closer to not going for his own second half, in those meetings he did not advance his determination or at what moment he would make it public.
She also did not say anything at Vidal's wedding
on Saturday.
In fact, Rodríguez Larreta estimated that Macri would take this definition but would wait until May to confirm it.
Both the Buenos Aires mayor and the former Buenos Aires governor had told Macri that
the uncertainty about whether or not he would be a candidate was "damaging" the space
: they had suggested that if he had the determination not to be, it was better that he express it.
The former president also had a pending meeting with Bullrich, determined to compete in the PASO.
Part of the PRO headline team responds to Macri, so the ad reaffirms his aspirations.
"
In reality, it strengthens all the candidacies and makes other definitions accelerate by decantation"
, agreed referents from the three sectors.
Rodríguez Larreta, Bullrich, Vidal and leaders of Together for Change came out to praise the former president after the announcement.
internal impact
From now on, each applicant will seek to consolidate and expand their assembly for the definition stage.
Rodríguez Larreta launched a month ago with a
speech contrary to political confrontation
and at times critical of Macri himself, indirectly.
The former president looks at the mayor's commitment to "consensus" from a distance, as well as his
understanding of him with a part of radicalism
, reflected in the photos with Gerardo Morales and Martín Lousteau.
Rodríguez Larreta also exhibits harmony with Elisa Carrió.
Bullrich did not formally announce his candidacy, but he already expressed his intention to go to the PASO and started with activities with a campaign tone, like last week in the Third Section of the Buenos Aires suburbs.
With a tough speech, in that sense more aligned with Macri, the former Security Minister
rejects the conciliatory positions and attributes the "courage" that would be needed
to implement the transformations that she considers necessary.
In contrast to Rodríguez Larreta, she works an agreement with another sector of the UCR and appears close to Alfredo Cornejo.
With another profile, Vidal stays away from that dispute although he does not resign his aspirations, as he ratified before Macri himself at breakfast on Wednesday.
"She said that she only got off if Mauricio competed
," they recalled in her team this Sunday.
Among the reasons for the announcement, close to Macri they alluded to the "requests" of businessmen and other members of the so-called red circle to seek to return to the Casa Rosada.
With the video he swept away that possibility and left a
more propitious scenario to "order" the space
, according to the gaze of those who frequent his offices in Vicente López.
Macri maintained a
high negative image
, particularly in the Buenos Aires suburbs, beyond the fact that in recent times he had returned to activities in that territory adverse to his figure.
In an attempt to dismiss this factor as preponderant in their decision, those around the founder of the PRO argued that if they had applied, they would have prevailed in the PASO of Together for Change - that there probably would not even have been competition - and that the prospect it was also favorable in an eventual run-off against Kirchnerism.
Other referents had a different look.
The fight for the city
PRO sources relativized that the announcement was chained to an agreement for the succession of Rodríguez Larreta in the City.
The Buenos Aires mayor agreed with Macri that
there should be a single PRO candidate in the district
, although it will be defined at the end of April.
If it is confirmed that this place will be for his cousin Jorge, as the former president intends, it will still be necessary to resolve the framework of the competition with Lousteau, in case the radical will be able to go with all the ballots of the candidates for the presidency.
"Mauricio did not get off because he never got on," said one of his closest leaders.
With whom he spoke this Sunday, Macri was "satisfied" with what the ad had generated: "He feels that he is doing what contributes the most."
Once the unknown is cleared up,
he will seek to maintain his influence
on the board of the PRO and Together for Change, and in an eventual new government, with the challenge for the space of not repeating the dynamics of the Frente de Todos between Cristina Kirchner and Alberto Fernández.
In this sense, the section in which he assured that there will be no "puppet" as president was interpreted.
"Now we have to be very vigilant, because in difficult situations we immediately go out looking for a messianic personality, who gives us security.
Together for Change has managed to overcome that false illusion of the individual savior
," Macri said, also focusing on the growth of Javier Milei, one of the recurring concerns in the opposition coalition.
look too
Mauricio Macri will not be a candidate: dialogues with businessmen and the secrets of that decision
look too
Why Mauricio Macri announced now that he will not be a candidate and the other news that can shake the PRO