Argentine Alternative Emerges as Movements Unite in Buenos Aires

Before becoming president in 2015, right-wing politician Mauricio Macri served as the mayor of Buenos Aires for nearly a decade and the Argentine capital has been seen as a bastion of support for his political party but an alternative has emerged with three major social movements announcing Friday the creation of a new leftist political force in the city.

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The new political group, known as Now Buenos Aires, brings together important social movements Seamos Libres, Patria Grande and Movimiento Popular la Dignidad, in an effort to present a progressive alternative for the city ahead of elections in 2019.

In the 2015 election, Macri's right-wing PRO party was able to retain control of the capital with the president's former Cabinet chief, Horacio Larreta, winning the post of mayor in a tight race.

“We have to build an electoral political expression that embodies everything for those who want a different city that the PRO proposes,” said Jonathan Thea, a leader from Seamos Libres, in an interview with El Tiempo Argentino.

Thea argues half of the city's residents do not support the PRO's right-wing agenda, with Larreta squeaking to victory with 51.6 percent support and a high number of spoiled or null ballots.

“What we saw was an inability to create a space that could express what people really want … We want to walk in the construction of a political space in the city with those who have the same vocation, that it becomes a real alternative to the PRO, which not only enunciates and criticizes but also is a proposal that can overcome,” adds Thea.

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Organizers say the new group wants to break the mold of traditional political parties and become a space where those who are disinterested in the status quo can feel welcome.

“We understand that there are more people who organize outside of party structures than inside them. This political space tries to bring together all these sectors,” Thea told Pagina 12.

Being born out of grassroots social movements, Now Buenos Aires began the journey with an event at the Obelisk of Buenos Aires calling on the public to submit their ideas for the organization through a “popular consultation.”

For three weeks supporters of the new political group will set up kiosks in a hundred different locations throughout Buenos Aires to collect feedback from the city's residents, which will eventually form part of the group's political platform.

“The popular consultation will be held until mid-November and the goal is to ask people what they think are the most important issues on topics such as health, education, security, transparency and political campaigns,” Thea told Pagina 12.