BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) - Argentina's former President Cristina Fernández has announced her candidacy for vice president in October's general elections.

In a video posted on Twitter on Saturday, Fernández said that former cabinet chief Alberto Fernández will lead the ticket.

"I have asked Alberto Fernández to head the formula that we will integrate together, he as a presidential candidate and I as a vice presidential candidate," she said.

Alberto Fernández served as chief of staff from 2003 to 2007 for Fernández's predecessor and late husband, Néstor Kirchner. He remained in that position during a portion of Fernández's term as president from 2007 to 2015.

Alberto Fernández will challenge conservative President Mauricio Macri, who has seen his popularity ratings plummet due to high inflation.

In this handout photo provided by the Unidad Ciudadana political party, former Argentine President Cristina Fernandez smiles as she officially present her book "Sincerely," during the Buenos Aires book fair in Argentina, Thursday, May 9, 2019. The presentation of her memoirs has become a best-seller since its release. (Unidad Ciudadana via AP ) </s> Argentina's former President Cristina Fernández has announced her candidacy for vice president in October's general elections.

In a video posted on on Saturday, Fernández said that former cabinet chief Alberto Fernández will lead the ticket.

"I have asked Alberto Fernández to head the formula that we will integrate together, he as a presidential candidate and I as a vice presidential candidate," she said.

Alberto Fernández served as chief of staff from 2003 to 2007 for Fernández's predecessor and late husband, Néstor Kirchner. He remained in that position during a portion of Fernández's term as president from 2007 to 2015.

Alberto Fernández will challenge conservative President Mauricio Macri, who has seen his popularity ratings plummet due to high inflation. </s> With polls giving her strong support ahead of October elections, former Argentine president Cristina Kirchner made the surprise announcement Saturday that she will seek the vice presidency.

The announcement, made in a 12-minute video posted on social media, comes just three days before the leftist politician goes on trial on corruption charges.

Kirchner, 66, said in the video that she was asking former cabinet chief Alberto Fernandez to run at the top of the ticket as they seek to oust center-right president Mauricio Macri.

Fernandez, who was chief of staff to Kirchner's husband Nestor from 2003-2007 before holding the same position during her presidency, is considered a moderate. Nestor Kirchner died in 2010.

In her video, Kirchner said Argentinians were living through "really dramatic" times, with more people than ever "sleeping on the streets, with problems at work or crying as they face electric or gas bills they cannot pay."

A series of corruption scandals shadowed Kirchner's 2007-2015 presidency but she has retained a strong base of support, notably among the poorest Argentinians.

That had helped make her a favorite in polling ahead of the October 27 presidential election, with some surveys putting her ahead of Macri.

Judge Claudio Bonadio had asked that Kirchner be held in pre-trial detention, but the parliamentary immunity she enjoys as a senator spared her.

It does not protect her from prosecution, however, and on Tuesday she faces a trial on charges of diverting public funds. </s> BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentina’s former President Cristina Fernández announced on Saturday her candidacy for vice president in October’s general elections, a surprising move that now puts a more moderate challenger at the helm of the presidential ticket.

In a video posted on Twitter on Saturday, Fernández said that Alberto Fernández, who leads the left-leaning Unidad Ciudadana political party, will run for the presidency against conservative President Mauricio Macri.

“I have asked Alberto Fernández to head the formula that we will integrate together, he as a presidential candidate and I as a vice presidential candidate,” Fernández said. “I am convinced that this formula that we are proposing is the one that best expresses what Argentina needs at this moment to summon the broadest social and political and economic sectors.”

Alberto Fernández served as chief of staff from 2003 to 2007 for Fernández’s predecessor and late husband, Néstor Kirchner. He remained in the position during a portion of Fernández’s term as president from 2007 to 2015, but left the post after a steep economic crisis took hold.

Some polls have suggested Fernández could defeat Macri in a second round of voting, but it is unclear how those prospects will change now that Fernández has thrown her hat in the ring as a vice presidential candidate. While many had assumed she would run for the top post, Fernández’s decision to pursue the position of second-in-command reflects possible doubts over whether she was best positioned to challenge Macri in light of a series of looming corruption trials.

Argentina’s Supreme Court has said the first corruption trial against Fernández could start as early as next week, despite a judicial order that her opponents feared could delay the trial into the presidential campaign season or beyond.

Fernández has been accused of taking bribes in exchange for public work contracts, but denies wrongdoing and says lower courts did not allow her to present more witnesses.

In separate cases, she faces several formal investigations into allegations of bribery, money laundering and criminal association during her administration and that of Kirchner.

Still, many voters are frustrated by an inflation rate that reached 47.6% last year, the highest since 1991, and a decision by Macri’s government to slash subsidies on utilities and public transportation.

In April, the Argentine peso hit a record low due to investors’ growing distrust of the conservative president’s economic management.

Macri says he underestimated the macroeconomic imbalances inherited from his populist predecessor, center-left Fernández.

Fernández, 66, was known for her interventionist and populist policies while in office. Some credit her for leading the country out of an economic crisis, while others blame her for creating its current woes.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina's former President Cristina Fernández announced on Saturday her candidacy for vice president in October's general elections, a surprising move that now puts a more moderate challenger at the helm of the presidential ticket.

In a video posted on Twitter on Saturday, Fernández said that Alberto Fernández, of the left-leaning Unidad Ciudadana political party, will run for the presidency against conservative President Mauricio Macri.

"I have asked Alberto Fernández to head the formula that we will integrate together, he as a presidential candidate and I as a vice presidential candidate," Fernández said. "I am convinced that this formula that we are proposing is the one that best expresses what Argentina needs at this moment to summon the broadest social and political and economic sectors."

Alberto Fernández served as chief of staff from 2003 to 2007 for Fernández's predecessor and late husband, Néstor Kirchner. He remained in the position during a portion of Fernández's term as president from 2007 to 2015, but left after a steep economic crisis took hold.

In announcing her vice presidential bid, Fernández said that she was "convinced that personal expectation or ambition must be subordinated to the general interest," and called the country's current economic situation "dramatic."

"Never (have there been) so many sleeping in the street. Never so many with problems about food, about work," she said.

Some polls have suggested Fernández could defeat Macri in a second round of voting, but it is unclear how those prospects will change now that Fernández has thrown her hat in the ring in a lesser capacity. While many had assumed she would run for the top post, her decision to pursue the position of second-in-command reflects possible doubts over whether she is best positioned to challenge Macri directly in light of a series of looming corruption trials.

Argentina's Supreme Court has said the first corruption trial against Fernández could start as early as next week, despite a judicial order that her opponents feared could delay the trial into the presidential campaign season or beyond.

Fernández has been accused of taking bribes in exchange for public work contracts, but denies wrongdoing and says lower courts did not allow her to present more witnesses. In separate cases, she faces several formal investigations into allegations of bribery, money laundering and criminal association during her administration and that of Kirchner.

Still, many voters are frustrated by an inflation rate that reached 47.6% last year, the highest since 1991, and a decision by Macri's government to slash subsidies on utilities and public transportation. In April, the Argentine peso hit a record low due to growing distrust of the conservative president's economic management.

Macri says he underestimated the macroeconomic imbalances inherited from his populist predecessor, center-left Fernández. He has also argued that correcting them became more difficult when Argentina's worst drought in decades deprived his government of much-needed farm export revenue.

At a political meeting on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, he appeared to respond to the announcement by saying that "going back to the past would be self-destruction."

Fernández, 66, was known for her interventionist and populist policies while in office. Some credit her for leading the country out of an economic crisis, while others blame her for creating its current woes. But in announcing the presidential candidacy of her running mate, she appeared to be the one who could effectively pull the ticket's strings going forward.

Mariel Fornoni, director of the political consultancy Management and Fit, said that voters who were somewhat apprehensive of Fernández could be more willing to vote for the Unidad Ciudadana party with Alberto Fernández as the leader and Fernández as the vice presidential candidate.

"It seems to me that all this is aimed at a more moderate voter," Fornoni said, noting that Alberto Fernández is praised by some for his work during Kirchner's administration. "Painting him as Nestor's chief of staff when we left the crisis is associated with having someone with experience."

Since leaving office, Alberto Fernández has been critical of his current running mate — going so far as to even oversee the campaigns of her political opponents.

Fernández said in her video message Saturday that she had known Alberto Fernández for 20 years, but admitted there had been "differences" between them.

Alberto Fernández did not comment publicly on her announcement, but appeared to confirm his candidacy on Twitter by saying that he would help make "the country that all Argentines deserve," and would "return dignity to millions."

Roberto Bacman, of the Center for Public Opinion Studies, said that the former chief of staff "has another profile," which is not "the profile of someone from Cristina's central core who strictly repeats everything she says."

The ticket, he said, "totally changes the direction of electoral politics, the electoral hypothesis and the measurements that had been made so far." </s> Days before she is set to go on trial on corruption charges, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner announced on Saturday that she intends to return to the presidential palace this year, this time as vice president running alongside Alberto Fernández, a former ally with whom she has had an uneasy relationship.



The announcement by Mrs. Kirchner, who governed Argentina from 2007 to 2015 and is currently a senator, stunned Argentine political observers who had widely expected the leftist leader to mount a bid for a third presidential term.

Mr. Fernández served as cabinet chief to Mrs. Kirchner’s husband, Néstor, who took office after a record-breaking default in 2001 left the economy in collapse and who governed during a period of relative prosperity fueled by a commodities boom.

He remained in the role when Mrs. Kirchner succeeded her husband, but stepped down a few months later after a battle between the government and farmers over export taxes. </s> BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina’s election primary on Sunday will determine President Mauricio Macri’s chances of winning a second term in October, with the country’s embattled peso currency expected to take a fresh beating next week if the business-friendly leader fares worse than expected.

As the main political parties have already chosen their nominees, Sunday’s vote will serve as a grand opinion poll on Macri’s chances of beating the main challenger, Alberto Fernandez of the left-leaning Peronist party.

The big question is whether Fernandez or Macri can win in the first round of the general election on Oct. 27. To avoid a second-round runoff in November, one candidate would have to clinch at least 45% of the October vote.

“The most important thing on Sunday is to see who passes 40% by the most votes. That’s the candidate most likely to get 45% in October and become president,” said Julio Burdman, a Buenos Aires-based pollster.

Opinion polls show Fernandez in the lead, which is not surprising given the weakness of Argentina’s economy under Macri.

As unhappy as they are about Argentina’s recession and high inflation, business leaders - and many well-to-do voters - say they are more concerned about a possible return to populism and intervention in the markets under the Peronists.

So rich Argentines may get nervous and ditch the peso if Macri performs poorly in Sunday’s primary.

“The potential panickers are middle- and upper-class Argentines, who will sell their pesos if it looks like Fernandez is going to win the presidency. This would pressure the exchange rate,” Burdman said.

The peso has already weakened 17.3% so far this year to 45.6 per U.S. dollar after a 55% swoon against the greenback in 2018.

Fernandez has chosen Argentina’s previous president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, as his running mate. Both say they want the government to exert more control over the economy.

Kirchner is facing multiple corruption charges, all of which she denies. Critics say she nearly bankrupted the country after years of high deficits and heavy-handed currency controls that scared off investment and spurred capital flight during her two terms as president.

But she remains loved by millions of low-income Argentines who remember generous welfare spending by her administration.

Macri became president in late 2015, promising a new era of sustainable growth. Three and a half years later, the economy is shrinking while 55% inflation makes it harder for poor families to feed themselves.

Polls show Fernandez likely to get up to five percentage points more support than Macri on Sunday.

“If results are in line with expectations, the outlook for the government would be positive, because a small distance between Fernandez and Macri could be reversed between now and October,” said Mariel Fornoni, an analyst at polling firm Management & Fit.

“A more severe defeat for Macri on Sunday would complicate matters going into October, especially because the government would have to contain the market’s loss of confidence,” she said. </s> BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Facing widespread discontent over austerity measures and low growth, Argentine President Mauricio Macri was snubbed by voters who appeared to hand a resounding primary victory to a ticket with his predecessor, Cristina Fernández.

The preliminary results from Sunday's voting suggest the conservative Macri will face an uphill battle going into general elections in October, marking a sharp turnaround from just under four years ago when the country's left-leaning era appeared to be coming to a definitive end.

With 88% of polling stations tallied early Monday, official results gave the presidential slate headed by Alberto Fernández and his vice presidential running mate, Cristina Fernández, about 47% of the votes. Macri and his running mate, Miguel Ángel Pichetto, had 32% — a wide margin that revealed the considerable depth of Macri's weakness, potentially positioning the Fernández team to win in the first round of voting Oct. 27.

To be elected president in the first round, candidates need to finish with at least 45% of the votes or have 40% and a greater than 10-point advantage over the nearest rival. If no candidate wins outright in October, there will be a November runoff.

"We've had a bad election and that obligates us to redouble our efforts so that in October we will continue with change," Macri said in a late night address. "I think it is very important a dialogue continues in this country, and that we continue explaining to the world what it is we want."

Former Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna trailed far behind the two front-running slates with 8.4% of the votes, which is still potentially enough support to give him a kingmaker role in the fall. Six other presidential slates also were up for elections in the primaries, but parties that got less than 1.5% of the overall votes cast won't appear on the October ballot.

The pro-business Macri has the support of financial markets and Washington, but has lost popularity amid a deep economic crisis which drove the inflation rate to nearly 50% last year and slashed Argentines' purchasing power. He says he is taking the necessary, painful steps to get the economy going after 12 years of leftist populism under Cristina Fernández and her predecessor and late husband, Nestor Kirchner.

But the electorate issued a resounding rejection of his handling of the economic situation — and a recent lending package from the International Monetary Fund that totaled upward of $55 billion. Most Argentines blame the IMF for encouraging policies that led to the country's worst economic crisis in 2001, which resulted in one of every five Argentines being unemployed and millions sliding into poverty.

"It's clear that Macri's weakest point is the management of the economy, despite the fact that it has improved in the last three months," said Mariel Fornoni, director of the political consultancy Management & Fit.

The Fernández ticket, whose two members are not related, contends Macri must be defeated so they can fight the poverty and homelessness that they blame on his policies.

"We always fixed problems that others generated. We are going to do it once again," said Alberto Fernández, who was Cristina Fernández's chief of staff during her initial term in 2007-2011.

Cristina Fernández is currently facing a series of trials for corruption during her 2007-2015 administration. She denies the allegations.

In a recorded message from the southern province of Santa Cruz, she said Sunday's results made her Frente de Todos party "happy and optimistic."

"But not only because we won an election — this is not a soccer game. Many Argentines understood and understand that things must change in the Republic of Argentina because as we are not living well, we are not OK," she said.

The possibility that Cristina Fernández could return to power put markets on edge. Matías Carugati, chief economist for Management & Fit, said the victory of the Fernández team would put new, "sustained" pressure on the exchange rate and stocks due to the prospect that the South American's recent free, less state interventionist course could be reversed.

Macri's election in 2015 marked the first time in a more than a decade that Argentina's center-right opposition successfully unseated the center-left Peronist movement to which Cristina Fernández belongs.

At the time, his victory appeared to signal a clear end to his rival's rule, but he conceded that Sunday's results put him on the defensive.

"This is an election where Argentina has to determine whether it continues on a path of transformation, of deepening democracy, of insertion into the world, of improvement and development — or returns to an authoritarian populist model that has failed in all places where it has been implemented," he said. </s> Let' s face it, incumbent president Mauricio Macri is really running against Cristina Kirchner, the two-term president who basically got Argentina in the mess they are in now. Macri's missteps and slow decision making on how to right the ship of state, a Latin American Titanic if there ever was one, has him in a nailbiter against Cristina's former chief of staff and hand-picked running mate Albert Fernandez. He is running as President. Cristina as "Vice President".

For voters, a vote for Alberto is a vote for Cristina. That could be his biggest problem.

Despite a stagnant economy, weak commodity prices not doing much to help Argentina's mighty agribusiness sector, and still ridiculously high inflation, Macri is hanging on. For a Latin American president who brought in yet another round of International Monetary Fund bailouts, Macri is defining the odds. Being on Team IMF has yet to be a winning team as far as South American presidential incumbents are concerned.

Nationwide open primaries will be held on August 11th. The vote will effectively serve as a trial run for the first round of the presidential election, which is scheduled for October 27th.

This election is a test of the IMF's new approach in Argentina, which is currently on the receiving end of the Fund's biggest ever aid package — $56 billion. The electorate is increasingly coalescing around Macri and Fernandez of Cristina's Partido Justicialista (PJ), the largest of the Peronista parties in Argentina, and the largest party in the Congress. PJ has gone through several incarnations since the 1970s when it shifted from a center-right party to a socialist, left wing, quasi-anti-American capitalism party centered primarily around Cristina and her late husband Nestor.

It is a tossup between Macri and that crowd.

Macri's popularity has taken a hit since he brought in the IMF. Inflation doubled and is now 55% ending June. Interest rates are over 60%. The peso is holding steady, in the mid 40s, but that is double where it was pre-IMF.

Despite this, Macri's polling numbers have improved thanks to peso stability, stable inflation, and a modest economic recovery.

By contrast, Fernandez and Cristina have seen their ratings fall consistently when they should have been rising. "He has struggled to convince voters that his administration would be different from that of his controversial running mate," says Fiona Mackie, Latin America regional director for The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

The EIU is forecasting a Macri victory in the second round.

"A stronger than expected performance by Fernandez (this Sunday) would increase the risk of market jitters and a new run on the peso, which would dampen Macri's electoral prospects," Mackie says.

Still, the first round of elections on October 27 is far away. A lot can happen to change the fortunes of the top two candidates.

Wall Street is still betting on a Macri win, but mindful of the potential shocks from financial markets with government bonds vulnerable to a serious sell off, as well as retailers dumping their pesos for dollars.

The recent jitters from external markets due to the trade war between Washington and Beijing are an unwelcome inconvenience and merit close monitoring for the risks to commodity pricing.

The IMF is also betting on Macri.

Their program has shown extraordinary flexibility on prioritizing peso stability throughout the campaign season by allowing for daily dollar auctions by the central bank, and discreet intervention in forex markets.

"The concern is whether this proves sufficient ammunition in episodes of intense market stress if President Macri doesn’t pull decisively ahead in the polls," says Siobhan Morden, a former Nomura emerging markets managing director, now head of Latin America fixed income at Amherst Pierpont Securities in New York. The fragile dollar supply/demand balance still requires favorable external conditions, she says.

Macri's economic team faces decreasing flexibility against any prolonged or intense market stress and that raises the stakes for him to do well this weekend and push towards a clear frontrunner status come September.

If not, investors will start to look at dwindling central bank reserves and wonder if the IMF's firepower to keep the peso in check will be enough to avoid a highly uncertain, if not dubious, Cristina Kirchner do-over.
Former Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner announces that she will run for Vice President in the 2019 Argentine general election, with former Chief of Staff Alberto Fernández as her running mate for President.