Mauricio Macri, the former president of Argentina (2015-2019) and member of the main opposition coalition, Juntos por el Cambio, announced on Sunday through Twitter that he will not run in the upcoming presidential elections in October.
Macri stated that he wants to expand the political space for change and inspire others with their actions. While several leaders of Macri’s coalition announced their candidacy, analysts speculated on what the ex-president’s decision would be. In the 2019 elections, Macri lost to the current president, Alberto Fernández, with 31.8% of the votes.
In a video, Macri used the teamwork that led Argentina’s football team to win the Qatar World Cup to explain his decision. He emphasized that the team won, not just the leader, and that everyone assumed the challenge, fought, and shone. Macri added that the country is “adrift, without leadership, isolated from the world, alone,” and stated that Argentina would never have a “puppet” president again, referring to Fernández, who was elected by the current vice president, Cristina Fernández, in 2019.
In the ruling party, the president has expressed his desire to run for re-election, while the vice president has ruled out running after being sentenced to six years in prison for corruption during her presidency (2007–2015). However, there is growing support among her followers for her to run again. Macri warned against seeking a messianic figure in difficult situations, stating that Juntos por el Cambio has always maintained unity and overcome the false illusion of an individual savior. While the opposition coalition, which has strong chances of returning to power according to polls, has announced pre-candidacies for the primaries, such as the mayor of Buenos Aires, Horacio RodrÃguez Larreta, and former security minister Patricia Bullrich, Macri stated that he would continue defending freedom, democracy, and shared values. He ended his statement by saying that he would always stand by their side, confident that Argentines had matured and would no longer allow populism to trample on them.