MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Macri launches his presidential campaign convinced “Yes, I can win”

Tens of thousands of people waving Argentine flags or banners with slogans saying “Vote for Macri” and “Together we can do it” gathered in the capital (Pic Clarin)

Argentina’s embattled President Mauricio Macri took to the streets on Saturday with a defiant message: “Yes we can,” he told crowds of supporters in Buenos Aires as he looks to launch an unlikely comeback ahead of general elections next month.

In spring sunshine, tens of thousands of people waving Argentine flags or banners with slogans saying “Vote for Macri” and “Together we can do it” gathered in the capital with the center-right leader, widely written off after a shock landslide defeat in a primary vote in August.

“You are waiting for me to tell you this election can be turned around. Of course it can,” Macri said to cheers at the first of 30 planned “Yes, we can” marches ahead of the Oct. 27 vote.

“We are going to defend the country that we all want together,” Macri said, promising that economic growth and jobs were coming if voters would stick with him.

The odds, however, are against him. Macri was trounced by 16 points in a primary election in August and pollsters have him even further behind main rival Alberto Fernandez, a result that would hand the Peronist challenger an easy win next month.

“The likelihood of Macri coming back and winning is so small that no-one is talking about it,” said Guido Chamorro, a portfolio manager for Pictet Asset Management in London.

“We have had a lot of surprises with elections, but that would be the biggest surprise of the year for emerging markets.”

Reading the elections is key as global trade partners and investors position themselves to deal with likely political upheaval in Latin America’s No. 3 economy, a key grains exporter that is juggling debt obligations with creditors, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), amid concerns about default.

The shock result in the primaries - a good barometer of the likely general election outcome - upended what many had seen as a close election race. Argentine markets crumbled the day after the Aug. 11 vote on fears of political turmoil ahead.

Macri was forced to roll out measures, including capital controls to protect the peso currency, and announce plans to renegotiate the country’s debts - policies many saw as a recognition from Macri that his race was already run.

A spokesman for the president’s office reiterated Macri was in the election race to win. “Not only did more than 100,000 people accompany President Macri at this start of the campaign, but we showed that we are more united than ever and we will win the election”.

A central bank spokesman said the institution was an “independent body” and that “what it always did and does is care for the stability of the Argentine economy.”

With sluggish growth, inflation over 50% and rising poverty, Macri’s bid for reelection was never going to be easy.

But in a country that once famously cycled through five presidents in two weeks, political analysts cautioned that the number one rule in Argentine politics was that anything was possible.

Congressman Eduardo Amadeo, a member of Macri’s party, said concerns about the “dangers” of Kirchnerism - referring to policies under Fernandez de Kirchner and her late husband Nestor Kirchner - would play into the Macri’s favor.