Argentine business confidence struggled following these events and unemployment, already higher as a result of a wave of imports and sharp gains in productivity after 1990, had hovered around 15% since 1995.

Following their initial victory, the party geared for the 1999 elections by nominating Buenos Aires Mayor Fernando de la Rúa for president and FREPASO leader Carlos 'Chacho' Álvarez as his running mate.

[es] Álvarez, a former Peronist who had broken ranks with his party following Menem's turn to the right in 1989, remained the country's most prominent center-left figure following FREPASO's defeat in 1995.

Duhalde's own approval suffered, however, as crime rates in the Greater Buenos Aires area (home to 2/3 of his constituents) rose steadily.

This weakness was highlighted by the Ramallo massacre, a botched police intervention of a bank robbery on September 17 in which members of the force were implicated.

Cavallo founded the Action for the Republic, and thus became a further obstacle to Duhalde, who would now lose a large share of the Menem vote to the unpredictable economist.

De la Rúa, who had earned plaudits for his fiscal discipline while mayor of Buenos Aires, stressed the need to crack down on graft and corruption.