Argentina: Alberto Fernandez-Cristina Kirchner ticket announced
Former Argentine President Cristina Fernández Kirchner announced she will run as a vice presidential candidate in elections this October, a surprise move by the firebrand former leader who had been widely expected to be the main challenger to incumbent Mauricio Macri.
Kirchner, 66, has endorsed fellow Peronist Alberto Fernández, who is little known outside Argentina, for president.
Alberto Fernández, 60, served as chief of staff from 2003 to 2007 for former President Néstor Kirchner, Cristina Fernández's late husband, and for a few months during her first term.
A law professor, he is considered a moderate within the broad Peronist political flank and is not related to the former president.
The two have had their differences, with Alberto Fernández supporting the Renewal Front, a centrist Peronist faction, for most of the last few years.
But they also have known each other for over two decades, and in the past 18 months have become close allies.
The unexpected move will shake up an election race many thought would be a choice between Macri and the more fiery populism of Mrs. Kirchner, who governed Argentina from 2007 and 2015.
Rebuilding the country
Polls show Macri losing against almost any Peronist opponent by nearly double digits.
Narrowly elected in late 2015 on promises to jump-start sluggish growth with tax cuts and deregulation, his policies have instead resulted in a massive debt crisis, and IMF bailout, and the most severe recession since the 2001-02 collapse.
"The debt taken on by Macri in just three years is larger than the one Néstor received, defaulted, in 2003 - aggravated by the fact that 40% of it is now owed to the IMF," Mrs. Kirchner noted in her announcement video today.
"To my fellow Argentines, who are anxious about losing their job, inflation and unpayable public utility rates. Who are also worried because the government continues to indebt the country to finance obscene financial gambling, I ask them not to give up. We know that a better country is possible because we've already lived it."
"Rebuilding a country for all must be not only our dream but our goal. I love you all very much."
At: https://www.yahoo.com/news/argentinas-cristina-fernandez-run-vice-presidential-candidate-2019-125422478--sector.html
Former Chief of Staff Alberto Fernández and former President Cristina Kirchner.
Widely expected to run for president this year, Mrs. Kirchner will instead be on Alberto Fernández's ticket as his running mate.
Fernández is known as a moderate within Argentina's big-tent Peronist movement, in contrast to the more left-leaning Kirchner.
The two become instant front-runners in a country suffering from Macri's carry-trade debt crisis and its worst recession since the 2002 collapse.
