Argentina’s president Mauricio Macri sounded almost apologetic as he addressed a crowd in the heart of the country’s Malbec wine-growing region, to make his case for another term.
“We all know that recent times have been difficult, especially the last year and a half . . . but I want to tell you that I have listened to you and I have understood, I have taken note and I have comprehended.”
“Now something different is coming,” he added, promising a changed approach.
But everything suggests that the “something different” in store for Argentina is Mr Macri’s main opponent; Alberto Fernández, a leftwing Peronist running on a ticket with ex-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. He is the out-and-out favourite to win the election on October 27.
A second consecutive year of recession, a sharp devaluation of the peso, a record-breaking $57bn IMF bailout, rising poverty and worsening unemployment would be dire for any candidate seeking re-election. But for a scion of one of the country’s wealthiest families, they are especially toxic. Hence Mr Macri’s contrition.
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The middle-class crowd of a few thousand gathered in a square in the city of Mendoza cheered dutifully and waved banners with the campaign slogan “Yes we can” as the president worked his way through a stump speech that lasted barely 20 minutes, his voice failing at times. His wife Juliana Awada, clad in designer black, laid a comforting hand on his shoulder, exuding the effortless millionaire elegance that won her a Vogue “best dressed” acclamation. A drone hovered overhead gathering images for use on social media. The warm-up act came courtesy of the son of a soy baron.
Nothing at the rally was likely to dispel Mr Macri’s image as a very wealthy man who is out of touch with the economic hardship facing most of the population under his government.
The coup de grâce to Mr Macri’s faltering campaign came with a nationwide primary election on August 11. Widely regarded as an accurate barometer of voting intentions, the results showed the president losing by a huge margin of 16 percentage points to Mr Fernández.
