MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Opposition candidate wins gubernatorial elections in Argentine province of San Juan

Rodríguez Larreta joined the celebrations

Marcelo Orrego of Unidos por San Juan (USJ) won Sunday's gubernatorial elections in the Argentine province of San Juan, it was reported. USJ is affiliated with the opposition Together for Change (Juntos por el Cambio - JxC) alliance at a national level. Peronist candidate José Luis Gioja of the Frente San Juan por Todos acknowledged defeat.

With 51.1% of the votes, Orrego was followed by the Peronists' 44.31% of Gioja (27.31%) and Rubén Uñac (17%). Turnout stood at 68% of the 603,276 sanjuaninos of voting age.

Buenos Aires Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta of JxC traveled to San Juan to join the celebrations.

These elections had been postponed after the federal Supreme Court (CSJN) ruled against the candidacy of incumbent Governor Sergio Uñac, who was found to be ineligible for another consecutive term and chose his brother Rubén to run instead.

Governor Uñac said Sunday that the CSJN had applied one criterion in his case and another in the province of Formosa, where Governor Gildo Insfrán has been in office for 30 years. Hence, he added that the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) should have a say.

Orrego's victory is viewed as a prelude to this year's presidential elections, starting with the Aug. 13 Simultaneous, Open, and Mandatory Primaries in which Rodríguez Larreta faces former Security Minister Patricia Bullrich within JxC.