Mauricio Macri, (left) Argentina's president, speaks as Miguel Angel Pichetto, the leader of Peronism in Argentina's Senate, listens during a press conference at the Presidential Palace (Casa Rosada) in Buenos Aires on Monday. The cost of hedging Argentina's sovereign debt against losses soared to a multiyear high Monday after Macri was unexpectedly defeated by a landslide in a primary vote. | BLOOMBERG

World / Politics

Macri refuses to throw in towel after Argentine primary drubbing, currency's plunge

Bloomberg

BUENOS AIRES – Argentine President Mauricio Macri said he can still get re-elected in October even after ending a key primary vote more than 15 percentage points behind his main contender.

Sunday’s defeat to opposition candidate Alberto Fernandez is a result of the economic hardship South America’s second-largest country has endured recently, Macri told reporters at the Casa Rosada presidential palace in Buenos Aires. He added that he heard the voters’ message.

“We will reverse yesterday’s bad result and we will have a closer election” in the Oct. 27 first round, Macri said, flaked by vice presidential candidate Miguel Angel Pichetto.

Macri said his economic advisers are working on all necessary measures to contain a market plunge that caused the peso to lose 15 percent of its value on Monday. He didn’t provide any details on the measures, though. The sell-off is a sample of what Argentines can expect should Fernandez be confirmed as the country’s next president, Macri said, adding he won’t make changes to his Cabinet now.

GET THE BEST OF THE JAPAN TIMES
IN FIVE EASY PIECES WITH TAKE 5

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

LATEST WORLD STORIES

A bridge spans the Apalachee River at Moore's Ford Road where in 1946 two young black couples were stopped by a white mob, dragged to the riverbank and fatally shot multiple times in Monroe, Georgia. The gruesome lynching is prompting a U.S. court to consider whether federal judges can order grand jury records unsealed in old cases with historical significance.

1946 mob lynching puts court focus on grand jury secrecy: A historian's quest for the truth about a gruesome lynching of two black couples has a U.S. appeals court considering whether federal judges can order grand jury records unsealed in decades-old cas...

$Former President Jimmy Carter answers questions during an Oct. 7 news conference at a Habitat for Humanity project, in Nashville, Tennessee. Carter has been hospitalized after an another fall at his home in Plains, Georgia. A statement from The Carter Center says Carter suffered "a minor pelvic fracture" on Monday but remains in good spirits and looks forward to recovering at home.$

Jimmy Carter, 95, fractures pelvis after suffering another fall at Georgia home: Former President Jimmy Carter had another fall at his home in Plains, Georgia, fracturing his pelvis and going to the hospital for treatment and observation, a spokeswoman said Tuesday. Carter C...

A video grab from footage broadcast by the U.K. Parliament's Parliamentary Recording Unit (PRU) shows British Prime Minister Boris Johnson reacting during debate on the Brexit withdrawal agreement bill in the House of Commons in London on Tuesday. Johnson faces two huge Brexit votesthat could decide if he still has a reasonable shot at securing his EU divorce by next week's deadline.

U.K.'s Johnson threatens election if MPs derail Brexit timetable: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson threatened Tuesday to abandon ratifying his Brexit deal and instead seek an early election if MPs defy his timetable to get the agreement passed in time to leav...