Amid rampant inflation, Argentina will celebrate 40 years of democracy when the new president to be elected on Sunday, Oct. 22, takes office. Although five candidates made it through the Aug. 13 Open, Mandatory, and Simultaneous Primary (PASO) elections, only three of them are considered to have a real chance to succeed Alberto Fernández.
Opposition candidate Patricia Bullrich of former President Mauricio Macri's Together for Change (Juntos por el Cambio - JxC) Monday closed her presidential campaign in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (CABA) together with Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, whom she defeated in the primaries and would now appoint as Cabinet Chief if elected.
Loquacious Leftwing Front (Frente de Izquierda) Congresswoman Myriam Bregman was the only presidential candidate not to condemn Hamas' actions against Israeli civilians this weekend during their opening speeches of the second (and last) debate ahead of the Oct. 22 elections. Moreover, she somehow blamed Israel for what happened.
The first presidential debate between the five contenders for the Argentine presidency was held on Sunday in Santiago del Estero, without any of the candidates outperforming the others. However, Patricia Bullrich of the opposition coalition Juntos por el Cambio (JxC) was criticized for her stiffness on stage and for failing to explain how she would bring about the changes the country so desperately needs.
Next 22 October a presidential election will take place in Argentina, South America's second-largest economy and three candidates are competing for the job, Sergio Massa, the incumbent, Patricia Bullrich, from the traditional opposition when two coalitions prevailed in the Argentine political system, and Javier Milei, a declared libertarian, economist, and if published Argentine opinion polls can be trusted, the front runner.
According to uncorroborated rumors circulating in Buenos Aires Thursday, Congressman Javier Milei, the presidential candidate from La Libertad Avanza (LLA) was suffering from some sort of mental breakdown, which raised the possibility that he might not be fit for the mandatory debates with the other four contenders who made it through the Aug. 13 Mandatory, Open, and Simultaneous Primary (PASO) elections.
The Libertad y Democracia Group of center-rightwing leaders gathered in Buenos Aires Friday to express its support to opposition candidate Patricia Bullrich of Juntos por el Cambio (JxC) of former President Mauricio Macri, who co-chaired the event The ideas of freedom in the politics of the future with Chile's Sebastián Piñera.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Wednesday warned his US colleague Joseph Biden in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations 78th General Assembly that democracy in Argentina was in danger as extremist sectors were gaining ground.
The Falklands/Malvinas will eventually be returned to Argentina but that is going to be a long, long road, forecasted Andres Cisneros a retired Argentine diplomat expert in the Falklands/Malvinas dispute and deputy foreign minister with Guido Di Tella in the nineties.
“I reiterate it, I repeat it and I reaffirm it, the Islanders living in the Falklands/Malvinas will have their rights respected if Milei becomes Argentine president,” emphasized Diana Mondino underlining her statements in an interview with The Telegraph which was considered highly controversial and criticized in Argentina by politicians and the media.