Argentines voted on Sunday in a presidential run-off that could end 12 years of leftist Government and see the pro-business opposition seize command of latin America’s third-biggest economy.
Polls show that the mayor of Buenos Aires, former Boca Juniors football executive Mauricio Macri, 56, could beat his left-wing rival Daniel Scioli, 58, an ex-power boating champion.
If Macri breaks the grip of Peronism, the broad populist movement that has dominated Argentine politics for a century, he could become Argentina’s most economically liberal leader since the 1990s.
Queues formed at polling stations which opened at 8:00 am under sunny blue skies in the capital Buenos Aires, a key electoral territory. Voting was due to close at 2100 GMT with first results expected in the following hours.
Macri has cast himself as a force for change, as many voters are fed up after 12 years of Government by Kirchner and her predecessor and late husband, Nestor Kirchner.
“We deserve to live better than this,” Macri said at his closing campaign rally. Scioli said
Macri’s proposed economic reforms threatened Argentines’ welfare payments, salaries and industry. “Macri means the devaluation that destroys salaries. He is the demon of savage capitalism,” Scioli said. The latest opinion poll by consultancy Management and Fit showed Macri with 55.3 per cent support and Scioli with 44.7 per cent.