With a message of unity, former Argentine president Cristina Fernandez and running mate Alberto Fernandez, no relation, on Saturday launched their election campaign, almost a week after the ex-leader stunned the country by saying that she was running for vice president.
Many thought Cristina Fernandez, who governed Argentina from 2007 to 2015, would head any presidential ticket, and the news that she would play the undercard to her and her late husband’s one-time Cabinet chief came as a surprise.
The ex-president was seen as the main challenger to Argentine President Mauricio Macri, who is running again amid a biting recession that has cost him support.
Photo: AFP
“I felt obliged to do this,” Cristina Fernandez said to thousands of supporters in Merlo, a poor area in western Buenos Aires.
During her speech, she mentioned the creation of a new “social contract” among political, social and economic leaders to resolve the South American country’s problems.
Cristina Fernandez, 66, faces a series of corruption trials and her decision to run as vice president is seen as putting a more moderate challenger at the helm of the Unidad Ciudadana ticket.
Alberto Fernandez served as chief of staff from 2003 to 2007 for Cristina Fernandez’s predecessor and late husband, former Argentine president Nestor Kirchner.
He remained in the position during a portion of Cristina Fernandez’s term as president, but left in 2008 during a conflict with farmers over an increase in export taxes.
“Together we will do what is needed to get Argentina out of the terrible position it has been put in,” Alberto Fernandez said in the joint rally, hammering at the country’s economic woes.
Some polls have suggested that Cristina Fernandez could defeat Macri in a second round of voting, but it is unclear how those prospects would change now that she has thrown her hat in the ring in a lesser capacity.
The former president has been accused of taking bribes in exchange for public work contracts, but denies wrongdoing and says lower courts did not allow her to present more witnesses.
In separate cases, she faces several formal investigations into allegations of bribery, money laundering and criminal association during her administration and that of Kirchner.
Still, many voters are frustrated by an inflation rate that last year reached 47.6 percent, the highest since 1991, and a decision by Macri’s government to slash subsidies on utilities and public transportation.
Last month, the Argentine peso hit a record low due to growing distrust of the conservative president’s economic management.
Macri said he underestimated the macroeconomic imbalances inherited from his populist predecessor, Cristina Fernandez.
“Those who are here are Argentines convinced we are the gateway out of this gray moment in Argentina,” Alberto Fernandez said.
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