Argentine President Macri to Seek Re-Election Amid Recession

(Bloomberg) -- Argentine President Mauricio Macri will seek re-election for a second term this October, according to a spokeswoman from his office.

Macri will embark on a challenging campaign set against the backdrop of recessions in three out of his four years in office, inflation last year near 50 percent and rising poverty. Still, he’s retained about a third of voter approval in polls, while his most likely opponent, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, has roughly the same level of support.

Earlier on Friday Macri, who was widely expected to run again, told Argentine newspapers Clarin and La Nacion that he would seek a second term but that he hasn’t decided yet who his running mate will be.

The president acknowledged that his government is still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s currency crisis when the peso plunged 50 percent. He argued inflation will be significantly lower this year, in part because the government is targeting a fiscal balance. He also said he will seek to cut taxes for private sector businesses.

The primary election is August 11 and the official presidential election is October 27. The winner needs 45 percent of the votes to win outright in the first round, or 40 percent plus a ten percentage point difference with the second place finisher. Otherwise the contest goes to a second round on November 24.

To contact the reporters on this story: Patrick Gillespie in Buenos Aires at pgillespie29@bloomberg.net;Jorgelina do Rosario in Buenos Aires at jdorosario@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Cancel at dcancel@bloomberg.net, Bruce Douglas

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