Candidate has recovered significantly in the polls since the primaries and shows the strength of Peronism in the country
The election in Argentina will have a second round. Current Economy Minister Sergio Massa and ultra-liberal deputy Javier Milei will compete in November, according to initial data from the election count, which took place on Sunday 22nd. With 81.89% of the polls counted, Massa has 36.11% of the vote, Milei 30.35% and Patricia Bullrich 23.69%. Juan Schiaretti, with 7.18%, and Myriam Bregnan, with 2.64%, complete the race.
This is quite a breakthrough for Massa during the election campaign. Massa’s coalition, Unión por la Patria, had won 27.27% of the votes in the primaries in August and came third. Milei had won with 30.04% and Patricia Bullrich’s Juntos por el Cambio came second with 28.27%.
Who is Sergio Massa?
He has been Economy Minister since 2022. During his time in office, the main issues have been high inflation, with an annualized rate of almost 140%, the loss of value of the currency and the increase in poverty (40%).
For this crisis, he blames the debt with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) contracted by the previous government, as well as the covid-19 pandemic and the drought in the country – which led to several crop failures in Argentine agriculture, also a pillar of the economy there.
Massa based his campaign on a promise of unity, in contrast to Milei.
Massa was appointed in July 2022 as a “super-minister” of Argentina’s economy, Sergio Massa. According to AFP, he is a charismatic lawyer, former soccer manager and politician who has campaigned for both Peronism and anti-Peronism since the troubled 1980s.
Massa was at the head of the Chamber of Deputies for the ruling Frente de Todos party (center-left) at the time, which is part of the trilogy of power together with President Alberto Fernández and his vice-president, Cristina Kirchner.
Like Fernández himself, Massa was chief of staff in Cristina Kirchner’s presidency between 2008 and 2009, but then became a fierce opponent, until he rejoined her to defeat the liberal ex-president Mauricio Macri in the 2019 presidential elections.One of his proverbial phrases states: “The most serious victims of inflation are the workers, the unemployed and the pensioners”.
In his long political career, Massa was mayor of the city of Tigre, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. In 2013, he inflicted a harsh symbolic defeat on then-president Cristina Kirchner by beating her in the province of Buenos Aires in the mid-term legislative elections.
At the time, Kirchnerism accused him of links with anti-Peronist Catholic sectors, the US embassy and economic power. But since everything changes in politics, in 2019 he formed an alliance with Fernández and Cristina against Macri’s re-election. “When you use anything to stay in power and divide society, then you can’t govern,” he once warned.
Massa, soccer manager
Massa was manager of the Tigre club, which he led to the First Division of soccer. He is married to another high-ranking Peronist official, Malena Galmarini, with whom he has two children.
There are still Peronists who question him for having been an activist at the beginning of his career in the Democratic Center Union, one of the largest anti-Peronist groups in history. But with the arrival of the right-wing Peronist president Carlos Menem (1989-1999), he joined the ruling Justicialist Party (PJ).
In the second decade of the 21st century, to oppose the Kirchners, he founded the Renewal Front, a group he still leads and for which he was a presidential candidate in 2015, when he came third (21.9% of the vote).
Massa is the son of a construction entrepreneur and a housewife, both Italian immigrants from Sicily.
Which party is Sergio Massa running for?
He is running in these elections as the candidate of Unión por la Patria, an alliance of various sectors of Peronism, including that of Cristina Kirchner, the vice-president. She and President Alberto Fernández were noticeably absent from the presidential campaign.
Massa has made and broken political alliances. In 2013, he created the Renewal Front, a center party as an alternative to Kirchner, whom he accompanied as chief of staff between 2008 and 2009.
The son of Italian immigrants, he grew up on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. He is married and has two children.
Massa’s plan in the elections
Sergio Massa has announced several measures in recent months in his quest to reach the second round of the election to be held next Sunday, the 22nd.
After the results of the primaries showed the ultra-liberal Javier Milei as the favorite, the government’s name in the running used his pen to announce actions ranging from freezing fuel prices to reducing income tax on salaries for almost the entire population of Argentina.
Called Plan Plantita, the economic-electoral plan could cost almost 1% of Argentina’s GDP, according to Bloomberg. Part of the measures will be financed by the creation of an extraordinary tax levied on banks and other large companies in the country. According to Massa, these companies benefited from the devaluation of the peso after the primary vote.
Here are Massa’s main measures to try to win over the electorate:
Freezing the price of gasoline and diesel
In August, Massa announced an agreement with refineries and producers to freeze fuel prices in the country until October 31, shortly after the first round. The minister also determined that companies that did not follow the decision would have their tax benefits withdrawn. Massa created a complaints system for the population in the Ministry of Energy to monitor prices.
Income tax reduction
The Argentine government has decided that workers earning up to 1.7 million Argentine pesos a month will not pay income tax. The measure could affect more than 90% of the population.
Aid for informal workers
With the justification that the amount was to compensate for the devaluation of the country’s economy, the Minister of Economy announced an aid for informal workers between the ages of 18 and 64 who are not retired or receive any other government aid.
The benefit amounts to 47,000 pesos and will be paid in two equal installments, in October and November.
Tax refund on basic food basket products
After data showed double-digit inflation, Massa announced the refund of taxes levied from August on basic food products for 18 million Argentinians.
Salary bonus for civil servants and pensioners
The government has created a variable monthly salary bonus for public and private sector workers and for pensioners.
For the public sector, the fixed amount of 60,000 pesos will be paid in two installments in September and October to 390,000 public administration employees who receive net salaries of up to 400,000 pesos per month.
For private sector workers, two installments of 30,000 dollars will be paid in September and October. The benefit applies to those who receive net salaries of up to 400,000 pesos per month. For pensioners, the bonus of 37,000 pesos will be paid in September, October and November.
Aid for domestic workers
Massa announced a one-off bonus of 25,000 pesos in two installments for domestic workers. For employers with incomes of up to 2 million pesos a month, the Argentine government will reimburse 50% of this increase.
Extra food card installments
The benefit for the low-income population has been reinforced in the midst of the electoral dispute. Two extra monthly installments will be paid, depending on the number of children in the family. Beneficiaries with one child will receive 10,000 pesos; with two children, 17,000 pesos; and with three children, 23,000 pesos. The value of the card will increase by an average of 30%.
Credit stimulus
The government has created a credit line for workers of up to 400,000 pesos, in 24, 36 or 48 installments. Each quota cannot exceed 30% of monthly income and the amount will be deposited on a bank credit card within five working days. The interest rate will be equivalent to 50% of the current bank financing rate in the country.
Agriculture and exports
To please local agribusiness, Massa authorized tax exemptions on the export of agricultural products with added industrial value, such as wine, rice and tobacco, and the delivery of fertilizers.
Travel program
Massa announced the launch of a program to stimulate tourism. The measure gives back 70% of the amount spent on trips around the country, limited to 1,000 pesos, between September 29 and October 17.
In Image: Sergio Massa, government candidate for the Presidency of Argentina