MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Winter, Sweden and soccer in the race for Buenos Aires City

Macri thanked Buenos Aires residents for their votes

Buenos Aires City Conservative candidate Mauricio Macri on Sunday night was almost doubling the votes of his runner up but still short of the 50% plus one needed, and will therefore have to face a run off nest June 24 in the election for mayor of Argentina's capital.

Vote counting of the first 20% circuits indicates that Mr. Macri who is also president of Argentina's most popular football team Boca Juniors is leading with a comfortable 45.35%, followed by Daniel Filmus, Minister of Education for the administration of President Nestor Kirchner. The current Mayor, Jorge Telerman apparently is only having a 20.5%, share, which would leave him out of the run off. Mr. Macri admitted he never expected such a good showing and thanked Buenos Aires residents for their votes and confidence. The Kirchner administration also celebrated with a sigh of relief, because Buenos Aires city virtually marks the beginning of a full electoral year in Argentina culminating October 28 with the presidential election. Although still too fresh, Argentine political analysts indicate that the energy crisis which has left great areas of Argentina and the city of Buenos Aires with limited gas and electricity services because of winter consumption peaks, together with the unfolding of what promises to be a serious corruption scandal involving some of President Kirchner's closest aides in the Public Works area are denting into the administration's alleged transparency and honesty. Actually the energy crisis since President Kirchner took office in 2003 has been worsening, and hitting hard neighboring Chile which is totally Argentine gas dependent, basically because public utilities' rates have been frozen for several years and investors are reluctant to expand and be forced to sell at below international energy prices. With the electoral calendar full, any changes in policy seems out of the question, in spite of the fact that some factories and schools were forced to shut down given the lack of electricity and heating. Five to ten additional points for Mr. Macri could be attributed to this fact and the Swedish contractor Skanska scandal, the company allegedly involved in paying bribes and over prices for the building of gas pipelines and which is currently under a judicial investigation. In the second round however, Mr. Filmus will have the full support of the Kirchner administration and its resources, of which the Argentine president has given ample proof when he's determined to conquer a political objective, (his cabinet and the First Lady were openly involved in the campaign). He can also count with the benefit that Mr. Telerman followers are described as "left leaning" and more distant from Mr. Macri than from the official candidate, an expert in educational affairs. So three weeks of intense campaigning await Buenos Aires residents. If Mr. Macri keeps cool and does not respond to provocations, and if the Kirchner administration falls into some "generous resources" saturation and overshooting that could offend voters, he has great chances of becoming Argentina's capital next elected mayor. (Not counting a good showing of Boca Juniors in the continental Cup and local championship). But if the cold spell (synonymous of energy crisis) persists and some of the judicial findings of the Skanska-gate investigation begin to leak into the media, and the creditability of the May inflation report this week is again questioned, it's Mr. Filmus who will be in serious trouble.