MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Macri launches new book – 2023 candidacy imminent?

The book comes at a moment when the Juntos por el Cambio (JxC) opposition alliance is in a state of turmoil

Former Argentine President Mauricio Macri launched his new book “Para qué” (What for), which will be available at stores on Oct. 18, it was announced.

Macri, who was quashed in his 2019 reelection attempt in the first round by current President Alberto Fernández, describes the 2023 elections under the subtitle “Learnings on leadership and to be able to win the second half,” hinting he might run again.

By “second half” the former Boca Juniors president and FIFA executive uses football jargon already employed in his previous book “Primer tiempo” (First Half), which has been described as a memoir of his 2015-2019 administration.

The book comes at a moment when the Juntos por el Cambio (JxC) opposition alliance is in a state of turmoil as leaders struggle internally for candidacies, a problem that might grow in size if Parliament decides to strike the Open Simultaneous and Mandatory (PASO) elections as of next year.

Challenging Macri's alleged plan to make a new attempt to return to Casa Rosada are PRO Chairwoman Patricia Bullrich and Buenos Aires Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta. If the matter is not settled through the PASO vote, JxC will need to find another way to solve the dispute.

“In politics, there is a saying that every time a leader publishes a book, he/she ends up being a candidate for some elective office. Will this case be an exception or a confirmation of the rule?,” Infobae wondered.

“You never know when you will find your true vocation. But if there is something I have learned it is not to accept what is given and to always be open. It's like love, it's a vibration that can only be felt in the heart. One should not resign oneself to living without love or not finding one's vocation. They are there, waiting for us somewhere. It is a matter of finding them. They are ours for what,” argues Macri on the back cover of the book.

“This book is about this mysterious path to happiness. It's about my personal journey and what I learned about it. It is the why of so many things done and lived and of so many things that still remain to be done. Why be the president of a football club, why change a city, and, above all, why change a country,” he adds.

“It is dedicated to those who accompanied me in each of the stages and to those who today are embarking on their own paths, wherever they may take them. For all of you, here goes my experience,” he also notes.