In just sixteen months, Sergio Massa can go from "grabbing the hot potato", as he often says, from assuming the Ministry of Economy to being the elected president of Argentina, in the midst of one of the country's worst socioeconomic crises in recent years. decades.
It is difficult to explain that the head of the Treasury Palace, with an interannual inflation of 142.7%, a poverty of 40.1% and an exchange gap greater than 200%, competes 'head to head' in the final stretch with a candidate without political ballast, the ultraliberal Javier Milei.
Massa, who already fought for the Presidency in 2015, when he was at odds with Kirchnerism and created a new force within Peronism, Frente Renovador, surprised in the October general elections, winning with 36.33% and going to the second round. .
Often called a "careerist" and criticized for his political flexibility, in addition to using his role as Minister of Economy during the 2023 campaign, he is an old acquaintance of the Argentine political front line since the beginning of the century, when he became part of the brief Peronist government of Eduardo Duhalde (2002-2003), after the social outbreak of 2001.
Since then, this 51-year-old lawyer has gone through various levels of Argentine politics, from mayor of Tigre (in the north of the Buenos Aires suburbs) to 'super minister' of the Economy, a position to which he was appointed on July 28, 2022.
Finally, his time at the Treasury Palace has not been a hindrance and, although the discouraging data and corruption scandals that have hit the heart of Peronism in recent weeks, the Unión por la Patria candidate maintains an even pulse with Milei for being president.
However, the accommodating leader has been able to distance himself from former president Cristina Fernández (2007-2015), current vice president and object of strong attacks from the opposition, to the point of acknowledging in his last interview that "no one can handle him." ".
The official candidate entered the political arena at the age of 17 as a member of the liberal Unión del Centro Democrático, which in the early 90s was absorbed by Peronism under the Government of Carlos Menem (1989-1999).
After the severe economic crisis at the end of 2001, Duhalde appointed him executive director of the National Social Security Administration (Anses), in charge of the state retirement system.
In 2005 he was elected national deputy, but resigned his seat to continue leading Anses at the request of then-president Néstor Kirchner (2003-2007).
In December 2007, he became mayor of Tigre, but left that position in July 2008 when he was summoned by Cristina Fernández as Chief of Staff.
But he left office in July 2009, which earned him the enmity of the then president, with whom he had bitter disagreements in recent years that did not prevent her from supporting his presidency of the Chamber of Deputies in 2019 and in 2023 his presidential candidacy. .
After his departure from the cabinet, Massa returned to the mayor's office of Tigre, where he achieved a good reputation as an administrator and was re-elected in 2011.
After running for president in 2015, elections in which he failed to advance to the second round - which Mauricio Macri won over the ruling party Daniel Scioli -, in 2019 Massa joined the Frente Renovador to the Frente de Todos coalition, with which Alberto Fernández reached The presidency.
Ambitious, with a moderate tone and with good business ties, at the head of the Economy portfolio he has made countless trips to the United States for negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), for the agreement signed in March 2022 to refinance the debt. contracted in 2018.
His brilliant record as party leader contrasts with his mediocre performance in the last year as head of finances, which, despite everything, could take him to the Casa Rosada on December 10.
