Pope Francis sent a brief message to Argentines ahead of Sunday’s landmark runoff hoping citizens “vote with conscience”. The DyN news agency on Wednesday asked the pontiff to send a message to Argentines ahead of Sunday November 22 presidential runoff between incumbent Daniel Scioli and Mauricio Macri from the Let’s Change opposition coalition to lead the country.
Argentine political analyst Graciela Römer.said there was no clear winner at Sunday's presidential debate between incumbent Daniel Scioli and opposition candidate Mauricio Macri, which nevertheless broke television audience ratings, similar to those of last year's World Cup final between Argentina and Germany.
With a repeat of their respective campaign strategies, not much content, and less replies Argentina's presidential candidates, incumbent Daniel Scioli and opposition hopeful Mauricio Macri debated during 75 minutes in four main blocks following clearly established rules of two minutes presentations and one minute question and answer.
There is an 8% of voters who decide on ballot day whom they prefer and will support, and they definitively decide the election, even more when it's a runoff, according to Jorge Giacobbe an Argentine political pollster and analyst.
Sunday's presidential debate in Argentina will most probably concentrate on economic policy mainly for two reasons: one that the current system with a dollar clamp, export duties, heavy influence of the government and wild spending has the economy on the verge of collapse; but the option of orthodox policies with drastic cuts in spending, salaries and possibly jobs and consumption is also seen as fearsome.
Any country, any economy needs confidence and positive expectations, and that is what is lacking, and has been lacking in Argentina for many years, said Jorge Brito, head of the Association of Argentine banks, who nevertheless warned about the impacts of a 'rough' adjustment on the economy.
The recently elected members of Argentina’s new congress will be taking the oath on 3 December, and numbers show that the current coalition of president Cristina Fernandez, Victory Front, will retain the first minority in the Lower House, while it will enjoy a comfortable majority in the Senate.
The director of one of the most reliable pollster organization in Argentina anticipated that the 22 November presidential runoff is still an open race despite the fact the incumbent candidate Daniel Scioli is running several points behind his rival and opposition candidate Mauricio Macri.
The Uruguayan government is hopeful that with president Cristina Fernandez no longer at the helm of Argentina, as of 10 December, a more flexible attitude can be expected from the newly elected authorities, particularly regarding Uruguay's intention of signing trade agreements with third parties, if Mercosur is not interested in such commitment.
Argentina's agro-business shares are booming in the Buenos Aires stock exchange since 26 October, following the first round of the presidential election, and expectations are even greater on the promises from the two candidates that will be disputing the runoff on 22 November.