Natalia Kidd
Buenos Aires, Nov. 25 (EFE) – The weakness of Freedom Advances, a young space in Argentina’s political life, has forced President-elect Javier Milei to strengthen alliances with other opposition spaces to ensure his future in the executive branch in the face of the convulsions that his adjustment measures could cause.
The hectic days in the “bunker” of the ultra-right party since Milei’s victory in the second round of the presidential elections last Sunday, show the difficulties of Freedom Advances (LLA for its initials in Spanish) to form the team that will lead the government from December 10.
A not very neat dance of names, with appointments confirmed and then discarded, others never made official but whose protagonists are already acting as ministers, and an endless number of rumors reveal the complex puzzle of the future executive.
One of the reasons, according to political analysts, is the lack of structure and experience of the LLA, a formation created in mid-2021.
“It is a group of some professionals, some politicians and people from the media. It has no territorial structure and, it has no intendants (mayors) or governors. And, with a few exceptions, it has no political cadres. The rest are people from the private sector with no experience in public administration,” Patricio Giusto, director of the consulting firm Diagnóstico Político, told EFE.
Milei’s closest associates insist that the composition of the cabinet will not be officially announced until December 10, and that they will choose “the best”.
However, Milei has already signed as Minister of Security Patricia Bullrich, from the Republican Proposal and third in the first round of October 22 as candidate of the center-right Together for Change.
The security was initially to be under the orbit of the vice president-elect, Victoria Villarruel, from the hardest wing of the LLA.
However, it was left in the hands of Bullrich, who, along with former president Mauricio Macri (2015-2019), gave her explicit support to Milei for the second round.
And other names from Macri’s orbit could end up in key positions in the cabinet, such as Luis Caputo, former president of the Central Bank, whom the local press places, still without official confirmation, as the future Minister of Economy.
For Giusto, it is crucial that Milei adds “experienced people from the sector” so that “he can start managing because he has never worked in the state”.
The need to have people who know how the public administration works is not the only reason that has led Milei to resort to the center-right quarry.
According to Esteban Regueira, analyst at the consulting firm Clivajes, Milei now has to bear the “cost” of the alliance with Macri that allowed him to win in the second round against the pro-government Sergio Massa.
The relegation of LLA members in the cabinet, is also a sign of Milei’s need to strengthen governability through alliances in the face of a social scenario that looks very tense in light of the severe economic adjustment that the libertarian promises to make.
Milei has also decided to include in his government people from the so-called Federal Peronism, Peronists who opposed the government of Alberto Fernandez.
According to Regueira, Milei “knows that his real legitimacy is not the 55.09%” he obtained last Sunday, but “closer” to the 29.99% he obtained in the first round, which obliges him to “open the door in search of governability”.
However, “tearing down” the political “anti-caste” banners that made the LLA flutter in the wind during the campaign of a large part of the electorate that “felt betrayed by the traditional political class”.
“Now, as he begins to outline a government plan, he finds himself surrounded by the very caste he criticized so much. We will see how long the support of this constituency lasts, given that his economic plan includes a very strong fiscal adjustment that will hurt the middle sectors,” Regueira said. EFE
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