Republican Proposal (Spanish: Propuesta Republicana), usually referred to by its abbreviation PRO, is a political party in Argentina. PRO was formed as an electoral alliance in 2005, but was transformed into a national party in 2010. It is the major component of the Juntos por el Cambio coalition, and its leader is former Argentine president Mauricio Macri, who is the party's president since May 2024.[11]
Other provincial centre-right parties united within PRO. Macri and López Murphy spoke with Governor Jorge Sobisch, leader of the Neuquino People's Movement, but did not reach an alliance.
In the 2007 Argentine general election, PRO did not officially back a candidate but gave tacit support to the bid of López Murphy, who stood as the Recrear candidate. López Murphy did poorly, gaining just 1.45% of the vote. PRO and its allies stood in the congressional elections and won two swats in the Chamber of Deputies, and six seats overall.
In August 2009, Recreate for Growth gave up its formal independence and was completely absorbed by Republican Proposal. The political space Values for my Country became a monobloc in congress, detaching itself from the Republican Proposal
On 3 June 2010, the alliance became recognized as a national political party.[16]
Macri was re-elected Mayor of Buenos Aires together with María Eugenia Vidal as Vice-Chief of the city.
In July 2011, PRO, in alliance with the Democratic Party and the Democratic Progressive Party, obtained a 46.1% vote in the City of Buenos Aires. In the second round on 31 July, he reached the victory and re-election of Macri as Chief of Government with 64.3% of the votes.[18] That same year, Jorge Macri was elected first mayor of the conurbano through PRO in the October elections with 38.4% in Vicente López.[19] In Santa Fe Province, Unión PRO Federal, headed by Miguel del Sel obtained 35.2% of the votes, but Bonfatti obtained the governorship with 38.7%.[20]
These three parties nominated Mauricio Macri, Ernesto Sanz and Elisa Carrió as their representatives in the August 2015 primary elections, which were held to choose which candidate would run for the 2015 presidential election on 25 October. On 9 August 2015, Mauricio Macri was elected with 80.75% of the votes as the candidate who would represent Cambiemos in the presidential election.
On 25 October, he won second place with 34.15% and managed to enter the ballotage. On 22 November, he was elected President of Argentina with 51.34% of the votes after winning in the second round the Kirchnerist Daniel Scioli
In March 2018, Union for Freedom, member of the Liberal International, agreed to its dissolution and integration into the PRO. This merger was approved by the PRO National Council and Patricia Bullrich joined the party.
In June 2019, an extension of the Cambiemos alliance was made: it is renamed Juntos por el Cambio, by adding to Federal Peronism led by Miguel Ángel Pichetto, who would share the presidential formula of space together with Mauricio Macri. In the 2019 presidential elections, JxC was in second place, with 40% of the votes, behind Fernández, who won first round with 48% of the votes.
Initially, Javier Milei invited Patricia Bullrich to run in a internal election in a brand new party that would define the candidate.[28][29] Finally, the alliance did not materialize; and the PRO (within Juntos por el Cambio) presented two candidates for the primaries. One referenced in the "Hawks", the radical right wing, and more confrontational with the kirchnerism of the party, which was represented by Patricia Bullrich;[30][31][32] and the other referenced in the "Doves", the more moderate and centre-right wing of the party, which was embodied by Horacio Rodríguez Larreta.[33][30] In the end, Patricia Bullrich managed to overcome her dialoguing opponent, although she did not obtain enough percentage to qualify for the runoff.[34][35] In which the hardest referents decided to support the ultraconservative libertarian Javier Milei, on the contrary the moderates remained neutral or even some supported the center-right peronistSergio Massa.[36][37] When the libertarian reached the presidency, he appointed several hard-line members of the PRO in his cabinet.[38]
After the election Patricia Bullrich returned to government as security minister in president Javier Milei's Cabinet in December 2023. Bullrich also stated that she will step down both as the leader of Juntos por el Cambio and PRO party.[39] As of 2024 Bullrich and Macri have different views on the future of PRO and its relation with La Libertad Avanza. Bullrich wants PRO to formally join LLA and create a stronger party, while Macri prefers to stay as an autonomous ally.[40]
Despite the majority of PRO members, they refuse to accept that their party be classified as "right-wing" for various reasons.[57][58] In Argentina, only 20% of citizens recognize themselves as right-wing and PRO, like other modern parties, to seek where there is a greater number of potential votes, hoping to add voters to the centre without losing the support of those on the right-wing. A rejection to be placed in the field of the right-wing prevails, which in Argentina is strongly associated with authoritarianism.[59] There is also a centrist faction led by Horacio Rodríguez Larreta.[60]
Mauricio Macri has opposed LGBT rights during the 1990s but has evolved since then. In 2009, he declared to be in favor of same sex unions and that he was not appealing the ruling that enabled the marriage between two men in the City of Buenos Aires.[69] Nevertheless, in 2010, the majority of national deputies of PRO voted against same-sex marriage, including Gabriela Michetti, who actively campaigned against it.[70][69][71]
During Macri's presidency, when the PRO leader declared himself pro-life, most party members voted against legalizing abortion.[72]
For many years, the youth wing was led by Marcos Peña, Chief of the Cabinet and one of the biggest referents of the PRO party.[80]
In April 2018, leaders of the ruling party attended the First National Youth Meeting of Cambiemos. There Marcos Peña questioned "populism" and encouraged them to continue on the path of "collective construction".[81]
When Javier Milei won the elections in 2023, the group decided to support him, and turned towards the far-right.[82]
In 2010, he was with Francisco Cabrera as president. The objective of the foundation was to design public policies and coordinate technical teams for a future national government of Mauricio Macri.[84]
.jpg)
.jpg)
