Argentine president boosts re-election bid

Bloomberg

Mauricio Macri, Argentine president, kickstarted his re-election bid with a surprise running mate that shakes up the nation’s political alliances before the
October vote.
Macri chose Senator Miguel Pichetto, one of his critics and a moderate opposition leader, to be his vice presidential candidate.
The move boosts Macri’s odds of winning, but analysts say it’s also an admission that he needed to broaden his coalition beyond its
current base.
“This is a very important change,” said Sergio Berensztein, an Argentine political analyst. “It opens up the opportunity for other moderates,” to support Macri.
Argentine bonds rallied
on the news. The spread in yield between government notes and US. Treasuries fell 66 basis points.
The move also further fragments Argentina’s broad political movement, known as Peronism, between
Macri and former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who is running as a vice presidential candidate on
a ticket with another moderate Peronist leader, Alberto Fernandez.