MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Macri says Larreta entering the primaries strengthens competition

The former President's intentions whether to run or not are still a mystery

Former Argentine President Mauricio Macri Thursday welcomed Buenos Aires Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta's decision to launch his presidential bid on Wednesday evening through a recorded message.

“I celebrate that he has presented his pre-candidacy, I deeply believe in competition,” Macri said on social media. He also said he believed in the positive effects of the “tension produced by the will to win.”

On Wednesday, Larreta said it was “time to dare to transform the country forever” and he upped the ante Thursday in front of the Cabo Vírgenes lighthouse, in the province of Santa Cruz, 133 kilometers from Río Gallegos. Rodríguez Larreta will be facing PRO Chairwoman Patricia Bullrich and other Radical Civic Union (UCR) contenders at the Together for Change (Juntos por el Cambio - JxC) alliance primaries, in addition to perennial runner Elisa Carrió of the ARI-Civic Coalition. Perhaps the most surprising candidate within the group is former Buenos Aires Governor María Eugenia Vidal, who is known to be Macri's bet and who would not hesitate to step down should the former head of state decide to seek another term at Casa Rosada.

“In these moments we must have temperance, not despair. We have to trust in the strategy, without shouting, we are on the road to consensus. They will not move us from there,” Larreta said.

Taking a more confrontational stance was Bullrich, who posted on social media that “there is no place for dialogue with those who are part of the problem and deepen the decadence of our country.”

“There is no place for lukewarm answers before the sad reality suffered by Argentines,” Bullrich insisted in a Twitter thread naming Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Sergio Massa, Aníbal Fernández, Hugo Moyano, Roberto Baradel, Juan Grabois, and Raúl Zaffaroni as examples of those with whom no discussion makes sense.

Vidal opened her campaign headquarters Wednesday in Buenos Aires with Macri's presence. If she were to leave the presidential race, she might run for mayor of Buenos Aires, it was also reported.

Macri then left for Italy to give a lecture at the University of Bologna.