Argentine President Fernandez says will not stand for reelection

Argentine President Alberto Fernandez surprisingly announced on Friday that he will not stand for reelection in October's vote, deepening uncertainty in the crisis-wracked country.

The news comes as Latin America's third-largest economy has seen inflation soar to almost 22 percent in the last three months and more than 100 percent over the last year.

Not only does Argentina have one of the highest inflation rates in the world, but the Argentine peso also suffers constant depreciation against the US dollar.

Fernandez's center-left Frente de Todos (Everyone's Front) coalition has yet to put forward a candidate for August's primaries, with Fernandez declaring in his Friday video announcement that it needs to generate a new cycle of leaders.

"Next December 10, 2023 is the exact day in which we will mark 40 years of democracy. On this day I will hand over the presidential sash to whomever has been legitimately elected by popular vote at the polls," Fernandez, 64, said in the clip.

At the end of last year, Vice President Cristina Kirchner, who was Argentina's leader from 2007-15, said that she would not stand in the primaries.

That announcement came shortly after the 70-year-old was convicted of fraud and corruption during her presidency -- although she has been spared prison by her parliamentary immunity.

Some press reports have portrayed Economy Minister Sergio Massa, 50, as a potential candidate.

"I will work fervently so that a comrade represents our political space," said Fernandez in the nearly eight-minute video clip posted to Twitter.

Fernandez has presided over a coalition riven by warring factions, not least between him and the highly influential Kirchner.

When Massa was appointed in July, he was the country's third economy minister in less than a month.

Fernandez's original appointment, Martin Guzman, had resigned under pressure from the Kirchner faction that was unhappy with his role in negotiating the restructuring of Argentina's $44 billion debt with the International Monetary Fund.

TIGHT VOTE EXPECTED

Polls suggest the election will be tight with the government camp and its right-wing opposition neck-and-neck, and a large number of undecided voters.

Among the opposition, former president Mauricio Macri (2015-19) has ruled himself out of the running.

It means a new face will be Argentine president by the end of the year.

For political consultant Enrique Zuleta Puceiro, Fernandez's decision "opens a new stage" in the country's domestic politics.

"We have put ourselves in a quagmire, we are starting afresh," he told AFP.

Buenos Aires Mayor Horacio Larreta, and Patricia Bullrich, Macri's former security minister, have both put themselves forward for the Juntos por el Cambio (Together for Change) opposition coalition.

The liberal Javier Milei, a 52-year-old economist who admires Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, is also in the running.

Argentina has been grappling with its economic crisis for years, registering double-digit inflation in each of the last 12 years.

Causes of inflation are multiple, including persistent deficit spending, constant devaluation and external factors like the war in Ukraine that affected energy and grain prices.

Last month, Fernandez passionately defended his record over the last three years, pointing to challenges he faced such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the impact of the war in Ukraine, massive public debt and rampant inflation.

Also in March he met with President Joe Biden at the White House, stressing his country's willingness to cooperate with the United States in the fight against climate change, saying that Argentina was facing the worst drought in its history.

Argentines head to the polls on October 22, with a second round runoff slated for November 19 if needed.

Primaries for both the government camp and opposition will take place on August 13.