On 97% of ballots counted Sunday night, Alberto Fernandez and his vice-presidential candidate, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, meet 48% of the vote against outgoing President Mauricio Macri.
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" We will build the Argentina egalitarian and solidarity we dreamed! " In his HQ filled with militants galvanized by the victory of their camp, Alberto Fernandez, 60, struggles to contain his emotion. The opposition candidate won on Sunday (October 27th), winning the presidential election in Argentina in the first round.
On 97% of the ballots counted Sunday evening, Alberto Fernandez and his candidate for the vice-presidency, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (president from 2007 to 2015) gather 48% of the votes. A sufficient score to do without second round, since in Argentina it is enough that a candidate obtains 45% of the votes to be elected.
Mauricio Macri, the center-right president who was running for a second term, won 40.5% of the vote, at least seven points higher than his August 11 score, in the compulsory primaries for all parties – a poll that served life-size survey.
Despite a smaller gap than Mr Fernandez's camp had hoped for, tens of thousands of people were jubilant and chanted. " We will come back! " Sunday, near the headquarters of the Peronist candidate. " I have lost a lot of buying power in recent years. I voted for Alberto Fernandez because I want things to change "says Antonieta Cavalieri, a 73-year-old retiree.
Serious economic and social crisis
" What explains this victory is first of all the very bad economic record of the Macri government ", analyzes Miguel de Luca, professor of political science at the University of Buenos Aires. Mauricio Macri, who promised to reduce poverty and inflation when he took office in 2015, has largely failed.
The country has been going through a serious economic and social crisis for more than a year: 35% of Argentines live below the poverty line, the unemployment rate is at its highest level since 2006, and inflation is exploding.
" With the Macri government, we had lost all hope of studying in good conditions. The cuts in the budget of public education and scientific research have been terrible ", denounces Martina Romero, an 18-year-old student who came to support Frente de Todos (Front de Tous), the coalition led by Alberto Fernandez.
