Argentines will be going to the polls this Sunday to vote in the open, simultaneous, mandatory primaries (PASO) when the different parties will be choosing their one-candidate for the big prize on 25 October when the successor of Cristina Fernandez will be elected together with half of the Lower House (129 seats), a third of the Senate (24 seats) and 43 members for the Mercosur parliament.
Argentina's current government presidential ticket for October's ballot, Daniel Scioli and Carlos Zannini has a solid lead of 18 points over its main competitor, the PRO party with hopefuls Mauricio Macri and Gabriela Michetti, according to the latest public opinion poll released by Aresco.
Cristina Fernandez son, Maximo Kirchner, lawmaker candidate for the Victory Front took time on Monday to comment on presidential hopeful Mauricio Macri’s Sunday speech, after his candidate Horacio Rodriguez Larreta won in the Buenos Aires City’s runoff by a much closer margin than expected.
President Cristina Fernandez Victory Front managed to remain as the leading political force nationwide on Sunday’s congressional primaries but her opponents emerged exceptionally strong in the all-important province of Buenos Aires and the other main districts of the country, to the extent that some political analysts anticipate the beginning of the end of the ten years of Kirchnerism.
On Sunday Argentina will go to the polls to select their candidates for the country’s upcoming October legislative elections. Though it may seem a trivial democratic chapter, the open, mandatory and simultaneous primaries will in fact be the first step in an election that is likely to prove critical to Argentina and most probably a referendum on President Cristina Fernandez’ administration.
President Cristina Fernandez was re-elected in a landslide Sunday, winning with the widest victory margin in Argentina since the recovery of democracy in 1983. At midnight and with 58% of polling stations reporting CFK had 53% of the vote with runner up Socialist Hermes Binner collecting 17.7%.
Former Argentine president Nestor Kirchner received Monday the unanimous support from country members of the Union of South American Nations, UNASUR, to become the organization’s secretary general, overcoming differences of previous meetings.