MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Macri ?ready' to go for the presidency

Argentine Boca Juniors soccer team president Mauricio Macri said yesterday that he was ready to run for president next year, in a move that further fragments the opposition in the run toward next year's general elections.

"The candidacy will have to be decided by the party. If they choose me, I will be ready to be a presidential candidate," said Macri, the leader of the centre-right party PRO, in an interview with daily newspaper Clarín.

Kirchner, who according to polls is the most popular politician in Argentina, has not yet said if he will seek a second term in the elections scheduled for October 2007.

But the political scene has heated up in the last two weeks following speculation that Kirchner's former economy minister, Roberto Lavagna, was also planning to launch a presidential bid.

Far from attacking Lavagna, Macri said yesterday that the ex-minister's potential candidacy would "strengthen the opposition."

"We are very pleased to see that somebody who has been working with the government until not long ago now agrees with many of the things we have been saying for a long time," said Macri, a national deputy.

Kirchner ejected Lavagna in December, after having consolidated his political standing in the October midterm election. Lavagna had declined to participate in the campaign.

But Lavagna is now becoming increasingly critical of the Kirchner administration's economic policy. He has especially warned about the price-control strategy to fight inflation and about growing state intervention in the economy.

Top government officials have taken turns to criticize Lavagna, who was Kirchner's most popular minister when he was asked to leave office. Yesterday, the government's land and housing undersecretary, picket leader Luis D'Elía, said that Lavagna's candidacy would represent "the worst of politics."

Macri is the second centre-rightist to express wishes to run for president. Neuquén Governor Jorge Sobisch, who is his political ally, has also said he wants to run. Centre-left Deputy Elisa Carrió launched her own presidential bid last month. Yesterday, Carrió said hers is "the only long-term project" available.