Argentine economy minister to run for president

Argentina’s economy minister, Sergio Massa, will run as the presidential candidate for the ruling center-left Peronist bloc in October elections, the coalition said on Friday.

Joining Massa on the ticket as vice-presidential candidate will be Agustin Rossi, current cabinet chief for President Alberto Fernandez, a tweet by the Homeland Union bloc said.

The decision removes ambassador to Brazil Daniel Scioli and Interior Minister Eduardo “Wado” de Pedro from contention as aspirants for the ruling bloc.

“For institutional, political and social responsibility, our space has decided to form a unity list … Our candidate for president will be @SergioMassa and accompanying him as candidate for vice president will be @RossiAgustinOk,” the tweet said.

Primary elections occur in Argentina on August 13, and the first round presidential vote will take place October 22.

Massa, a 51-year-old lawyer, has been economy minister for 11 months during a period of soaring inflation (114 percent year-on-year) and a drop in hard currency reserves.

Before serving in the Fernandez cabinet, Massa was president of the Chamber of Deputies.

In 2008 and 2009, he was chief of staff to then-president Cristina Kirchner, who is now vice-president, and with whom Massa had a bitter falling out until they reconciled for the 2019 elections won by Fernandez with Kirchner on the ticket.

The center-right opposition coalition Together for Change (Juntos por el Cambio) will run two candidates in the primaries: Buenos Aires Mayor Horacio Rodriguez Larreta, 57, and former security minister Patricia Bullrich, 67.

Both Fernandez and Kirchner declined to run again. Former center-right president Mauricio Macri — who served from 2015 to 2019 — also did not seek a new term.

The winner of the presidential election will take office December 10 for a four-year term.