Mr. Mauricio Macri, the former Mayor of Buenos Aires, on 22 November 2015 won the Presidential elections in Argentina after getting more than 51 percent of the votes in the second round of voting.1 By defeating the ruling party’s candidate, Mr Daniel Scioli (48.56 percent), he ends twelve years of Presidency of the Peronist Party led by President Cristina Fernandez Kirchner.
The President-elect, Mr Macri’s election campaign, “Let’s Change: Change is Possible”, has resonated with the Argentinian voters. Largely focusing on domestic needs, his campaign identified four challenges that would be the focus of the new Presidency.
It is expected that the new presidency would bring about some changes in Argentina’s international policies, especially within its neighbourhood. During his campaign, the President-elect had promised to strengthen institutions, introduce more pro-business policies, reach amicable understandings with foreign creditors and realign Argentina’s foreign policy away from those of Venezuela and Iran and move closer to the US and Europe. He has stated that he will move a proposal to expel Venezuela from MERCOSUR due to the political crisis in the nation and the arrest of opposition leaders. He has also indicated that he will adopt a less confrontational stance over the Falkland Islands.6 This has been in contrast to the policies that Argentina has been following under the leadership of President Cristina Kirchner and one that Mr Scioli had promised to continue, if elected.
Nonetheless, the low margin, (about three percent) in the winning votes indicates that the Peronist Party is a strong political contender outside the Parliament and would be an effective opposition party within the Parliament too. The Peronist Party has the support of the powerful trade unions of Argentina. The move to build a more pro-business government is a welcome change; however, the new President would have to maintain a fine balance between welfare programmes and the pro-business policies. He would have to find the policies of the current government that are pro-poor and bind them with his vision for Argentina.
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* The Authoress is a Research Fellow with the Indian Council of World Affairs.
End Notes
1 To win the Presidency, a candidate needs to take 45 percent of the votes or at least 40 percent with a 10 percent lead over the runner-up. Failing that, a secondary runoff vote is conducted.
2 Mauricio Macri, “POBREZA CERO”, http://mauriciomacri.com.ar/propuestas/pobreza-cero/, (Accessed on 27 November 2015).
3 Reilly Ryan, The Argentinean Independent, 21 October 2015 “Argentina’s Presidential Candidates: Mauricio Macri”, http://www.argentinaindependent.com/currentaffairs/analysis/argentinas-presidential-candidates-mauricio-macri/, (Accessed on 27 November 2015).
4 Mauricio Macri, “TERMINAR CON EL NARCOTRÁFICO”, http://mauriciomacri.com.ar/propuestas/narcotrafico/, (Accessed on 27 November 2015).
5 Mauricio Macri, “UNIR A LOS ARGENTINOS”, http://mauriciomacri.com.ar/propuestas/unir/ (Accessed on 27 November 2015).
6 Jonathan Watts and Uki Goñi, “Argentina Shifts to the Right after Mauricio Macri Wins Presidential Runoff”, The Guardian, 23 Nov. 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/22/argentina-election-exit-polls-buenos-aires-mauricio-macri, (Accessed on 27 November 2015).