MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine Patagonian provinces elect new governors

Weretilneck had become governor of Río Negro in 2012 after Carlos Soria's assassination

The Argentine Patagonian provinces of Río Negro and Neuquén have new governors-elect after Sunday's elections. Opposition candidate Rolando Figueroa brought Movimiento Popular Neuquino's rule to an end after four decades and former Río Negro Governor Alberto Weretilneck was elected back into office. Figueroa and Weretilneck currently hold seats on the federal Lower and Upper Houses respectively.

These are two of the 16 provinces to hold governorship elections at different dates than the federal ones, scheduled for Aug. 13 (Mandatory, Simultaneous, and Open -PASO- Primaries) and Oct. 22 (presidential elections, first round).

Figueroa, a former Neuquén Lieutenant Governor under the MPN, broke out from the provincial party's ranks and won as the candidate of the Comunidad alliance of former President Mauricio Macri's PRO plus Peronist and Radical (UCR) forces. He defeated MPN's Marcos Koopmann, endorsed by incumbent Governor Omar Gutiérrez. The MPN had not lost an election in 60 years. Figueroa had 35.61% of the votes, while Koopmann had 32.67%.

“Congratulations Rolo Figueroa, Leti Esteves and Marcelo Bermúdez for this great election! After 60 years we are going to change Neuquén with the necessary transformations. I celebrate the change of course chosen by the people of Neuquén. I have no doubt that this is the way to the transformation of the country,” wrote Buenos Aires Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta on social media.

Ramón Rioseco came in third with 12.79% of the votes and Javier Milei's candidate Carlos Eguía was fourth, with 8.19%.

Senator Alberto Weretilneck won the elections in Río Negro and secured his return to the provincial Executive replacing Arabela Carreras, from the same party. On January 1, 2012, when then-Governor Carlos Soria was murdered by his wife after only twenty-two days in office, Lieutenant Governor Weretilneck took over.

Weretilneck, of the Juntos Somos Río Negro front, got around 34.7% of the votes against Cambia Río Negro's, Aníbal Tortoriello, who obtained around 25% while votes were still being counted.

Although victory does not seem to be at risk, the former governor was expected to win by a wider margin according to previous polls.

Milei's candidate in Río Negro was also fourth with 8.72% of the votes.