Argentines went to the polls Sunday in a closely watched vote that marks the end of a political dynasty.
For President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who’s slated to leave office in December after eight years at the helm, it’s a test of whether the candidate she supports will win and extend her populist political legacy.
For a region where leftist movements have played a growing role, it’s an election that could shift the balance of power if the more conservative candidate wins.
And for the finance world, it’s a long-awaited moment that could change how the South American country handles its debt problems and interacts with Wall Street.
The presidential runoff — Argentina’s first ever — pits Daniel Scioli of Fernandez’s Front for Victory against Mauricio Macri of the Let’s Change coalition.
Preliminary results from Sunday’s vote placed Macri in the lead. With results from just over 50% of polling stations counted, Macri was leading with nearly 54% of the vote, while Scioli had garnered just over 46%.
Neither candidate won enough support during the first round of voting to win. In that election last month, Scioli won 37.08% of votes and Macri garnered 34.15%.
The election of Macri, a center-right candidate who’s mayor of Buenos Aires and the former president of the Boca Juniors football club, could signal a conservative shift for Argentina. Macri has said he wants to rewrite the playbook on Argentina’s economy — a campaign promise that’s made him popular on Wall Street and drawn sharp criticism from his opponents.
Scioli, Fernandez’s handpicked successor who many had been expecting to sail to an election victory in October, launched attack ads against Macri in the days leading up to the runoff.
Scioli was the first of the candidates to vote on Sunday, invoking the name of the Argentine-born pontiff on Twitter as he urged his fellow citizens to cast their ballots.
“I ask that you vote in favor, that you go in search of the best for Argentina, vote your conscience as Pope Francis has said,” he said.
Opposition candidate Macri described the election as a “historic day” on Twitter.
And Fernandez noted her family’s legacy after she voted, referring to her two terms as President and the four years her husband, the late Nestor Kirchner, served as Argentina’s leader.
“We have never had a period of government of 12 and a half years with this social and economic stability and of constant progress,” she said.