MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina: Macri and Bullrich go rogue from JxC to support Milei

“When the homeland is in danger, anything goes,” argued Bullrich.

The opposition coalition Juntos x el Cambio (JxC) of former President Mauricio Macri is practically broken after presidential candidate Patricia Bullrich announced following dinner with the former head of state that the two of them would support the candidacy of Congressman Javier Milei (La Libertad Avanza - LLA) in the Nov. 19 runoff against Economy Minister Sergio Massa of Unión x la Patria (UP).

While political analysts in Buenos Aires are already talking about the death certificate of the JxC, Jujuy Governor and Radical Civic Union (UCR) Chairman Gerardo Morales, called the unilateral decision by Macri and Bullrich “reckless” because it damages decision-making within JxC. He added that Macri and Bullrich were the ones who left the alliance. In other words, JxC plans to remain together at the legislative level, but most likely without Macri's Propuesta Republicana (PRO) party in future elections.

The JxC ticket of Bullrich and the Radical Luis Petri came in third on Sunday with 23.9% of the vote. Morales said that the UCR board did not have enough time to evaluate Petri's support for Milei and his deviation from his roots. The Governor also emphasized Petri's insignificant organizational weight and insisted that Macri and Bullrich were responsible.

Other member parties of JxC, such as the Civic Coalition (CC) of former Congresswoman Elisa Carrió, have also announced that they will not support either candidate in the runoff, while the UCR signed a communiqué along the same lines.

pic.twitter.com/YefKdgWQC5

— Javier Milei (@JMilei) October 25, 2023

The UCR will not support either candidate. Neither of them guarantees a future of progress for Argentina,“ the document reads. ”Sergio Massa is as responsible as Alberto Fernández and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner for the state of the country, its impoverishment, the inflationary process, corruption, and the social and economic deterioration of Argentina.

The political party of former Presidents Hipólito Irigoyen, Marcelo de Alvear, Arturo Illia, Raúl Alfonsín, and Fernando de la Rúa also found Milei's “demagogic extremism” to be “at the antipodes of our thinking.

”His political platform and the violence that comes from his words and gestures, always attacking coexistence, have nothing to do with our party. We could never have anything to do with its space,“ the UCR stressed.

”Last night I had a meeting with Milei, we talked about his statements [he accused her of placing bombs in kindergartens in the 1970s] and we forgave each other because today the country needs us to be able to forgive each other. The future is at stake,” Bullrich said in announcing her decision, which was not welcomed by some leaders of La Libertad Avanza (LLA), who claimed they had believed Milei when he said he would distance himself from the traditional political caste, “but now he is negotiating with Macri.”

“When the homeland is in danger, anything goes. We have an obligation not to be neutral,” argued Bullrich.

Milei had extended an invitation to all other political forces after coming second in Sunday's election. He said at the time that he was ready to start afresh after the campaign, with the runoff in sight. He also reportedly instructed his allies in the provinces to broker deals with local political leaders to unite against Massa.

Other news outlets have also suggested that there could be a split within the PRO, with those who support Buenos Aires Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta and former Buenos Aires Province Governor María Eugenia Vidal preferring to back Massa.

Read also: Bullrich will defend her values, but her coalition is mortally wounded