Mauricio Macri speaks as he praices mayoral race elected candidate Horacio Rodriguez Larreta, as Gabriela Michetti watches on.
By Sebastián Lacunza
Editor-in-Chief
Editor-in-Chief
BA City gives Macri’s candidacy fresh momentum
The overwhelming victory of PRO in the City of Buenos Aires, with big margins in almost all neighbourhoods, marks a qualitative leap for the party created by Mauricio Macri.
While the local ruling party scored in yesterday’s primaries a percentage similar to that of the outgoing mayor when re-elected in 2011, the PRO helm now adds Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, a man better defined as a strategist than as a charismatic politician. The most important centre-right party in the history of Argentine democracy has thus somehow emancipated itself from its founding (and funding) father, thus rewarding a style of management and a political identity which satisfies many porteño citizens.
On the brink of its third mayoral term in this city, it hardly needs to be said that PRO is here to stay with a decisive presence in all social classes. From Villa Soldati, a neighbourhood with socio-demographic characteristics comparable to Greater Buenos Aires, to Belgrano, with its elitist per capita income, Macri’s team has plenty to say. The numbers indicate once again that the predominance of the centre-right among the upper and upper middle-class of the federal capital in no way lags behind the persistent Kirchnerite/Peronist vote in the low-income neighbourhoods of La Matanza or Formosa province.
That almost half the porteños have renewed their support for PRO provides beyond any doubt fresh momentum for Mauricio Macri’s presidential candidacy, although not decisive. This city is virtually the only district in this country where PRO is clearly victorious without need for any relevant allies, over and above the case of Santa Fe, whose candidate Miguel del Sel is not exactly a source of pride for any presidential candidate. But the opposite scenario — say, Rodríguez Larreta and Gabriela Michetti together scraping a miserable 35 percent of the City vote with some centrist like Martín Lousteau running them close in the same market and Kirchnerism hanging onto its persistent 20 percent of the vote — would leave Macri’s presidential plans under a dark cloud, thus giving the dissident Peronist Sergio Massa (a phantom presence in yesterday’s voting) some shred of hope. But it was not to be and as a consequence, the former Tigre mayor, unable to influence any province save his own, will have to think of some bold political stunt in the next few weeks if his presidential candidacy is not to enter into a downhill slide.
Massa seems to have lost his ability to pull rabbits out of the hat. Thus for yesterday’s vote he had promised a “surprise” mayoral candidate. Nothing more alien to that illusion than the technocrat Guillermo Neilsen with his background of multiple official posts. Yet the former Cabinet chief has never lacked audacity and it should not be overlooked that his stronghold, Buenos Aires province, houses over a third of the total national electorate. This is precisely where Macri is struggling to find a footing while the Radicals under Ernesto Sanz have little or nothing to offer him.
Martín Lousteau (sponsored by Elisa Carrió and Sanz) and Graciela Ocaña were negotiating a partnership with PRO in recent months until they decided to form an opposition front with the eccentric acronym ECO. Lousteau was impressively fighting for second place among all candidates at press time last night, boosting his chances of forcing a run-off. If so, the former Economy minister may gain some votes in the City general election which yesterday went to Michetti but this would do nothing to put back on track a UNEN which has strayed since its creation.
The sum total of the seven hopefuls running under the Victory Front (FPV) drew a slightly bitter twist to the smiles on the faces at the Kirchnerite bunker placed at NH Tango hotel. With the newcomer Mariano Recalde, who entered City politics barely two months ago, as its main candidate, Kirchnerism was hardly close to 20 percent in a hostile district, about seven or eight percentage points below Daniel Filmus’ level of support four years ago. This was compensated by the data from Neuquén ratifying that the FPV is competitive while ostracizing the candidate backed by Macri, the Radical Jorge Quiroga, who enjoys more presence in the media than in the ballot-boxes.
Finally, the sparse result for the FIT, with about a third of the percentages obtained earlier this month in Salta and Mendoza, confirms that the most symbolic showcase, the federal capital, and the most populous province (Buenos Aires) are barriers limiting its national projection.
@sebalacunza