MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lilita Carrió running in Argentine opposition presidential primaries

I do not intend to win as much as I intend to have unity within JxC, Carrió explained

Veteran Argentine politician Elisa “Lilita” Carrió of the Coalición Cívica-Ari party Wednesday announced she will be running in this year's presidential primaries within the Together for Change (Juntos por el Cambio - JxC) coalition.

The leader of the alliance will be facing PRO's Chairwoman Patricia Bullrich and Buenos Aires Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, as well as Jujuy Governor Gerardo Morales of the Radical Civil Union (UCR).

“In the Civic Coalition there is going to be a candidate and the candidate is going to be me,” said the former congresswoman in a radio interview. “I intend to have a great electoral offer in presidential and governors' matters, and unity for the lists of legislators,” she added.

“I am a candidate to guarantee unity, I do not intend to win, I intend that there will not be a debate to death in Juntos por el Cambio,” argued Carrió, who also said that she will not promote her candidacy until after May. “I am a founder of Juntos por el Cambio, the first objective is to achieve the unity of all,” she argued.

Carrió stressed that JxC's “wear and tear” stemmed from the fight for candidacies and due to former President Mauricio Macri's reluctance to announce whether he will be running or not. But that is a problem for PRO to solve, Carrió stressed. “If Macri wants to run, he will run,” Carrió insisted.

“If we are not guaranteed an honest list, we will go with my candidacy,” Carrió had warned last year.

Carrió is determined to achieve unity with JxC. “I want to achieve the greatest possible unity and the greatest possible friendship of a true coalition government so that there are no internal elections,” she said.