by Alberto Galvi –
Argentine President Alberto Fernández will not stand for re-election in elections due to take place later this year, opening a race to lead the ruling Peronist coalition to the ballot amid a deepening economic crisis, with more than 50 percent of children living in poverty and a runaway annual inflation rate of over 100 percent.
Peronists are reeling in opinion polls, with factional infighting over who should be its presidential candidate. About 7 out of 10 Argentines view Alberto Fernández negatively, while only 10 percent have a positive image of the president.
Fernández took office at the end of 2019. Disputes within the governing coalition have exploded for months, since allies of Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner have asked Alberto Fernández not to run again in order to better design an electoral strategy in view of the primaries in August.
Alberto Fernández’s decision not to run again comes at the end of a week in which the local currency suffered a sharp depreciation on the financial markets and the prices of sovereign bonds collapsed. Mauricio Macri, leader of the main centre-right opposition party and president from 2015 to 2019, said last month that he was not running for president. Vice President Fernandez de Kirchner also excluded herself.