ARGENTINA-ELECTION/CLOSING CAMPAIGNS Argentine presidential hopefuls wrap up campaigns ahead of elections

Record ID: 135804

  • Title: ARGENTINA-ELECTION/CLOSING CAMPAIGNS Argentine presidential hopefuls wrap up campaigns ahead of elections
  • Date: 23rd October 2015
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF MASSA AND VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, GUSTAVO SAENZ, AT RALLY
  • Embargoed: 7th November 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Argentina
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVABKWD6CM3FAYNP9GAAQOJDULAV
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Argentine presidential candidates closed their campaigns late on Thursday (October 22), days ahead of a Sunday presidential election to replace Cristina Fernandez, whose two terms have been characterized by generous welfare programs for the poor, state controls in the economy and a debt default.
    Her support for Buenos Aires state governor Daniel Scioli, the Front for Victory party's candidate, has helped put him well ahead in opinion polls and he could win the election outright on Sunday without having to face a runoff vote next month.
    On Thursday (October 22), Scioli promised to increase the threshold at which people start paying income tax, a move sure to be popular among middle class voters ahead of Sunday's election.
    Scioli, who is ahead in opinion polls but cannot be sure of an outright win, said that Argentines earning less than 30,000 pesos ($3,153) per month would be exempt from income tax if he wins. The current threshold is 15,000 pesos per month.
    "I am committed to modifying taxes on earnings. A worker or a retired person who earns less than 30,000 net pesos in their pocket will not pay this tax," Scioli said.
    Scioli said more than half a million people would benefit from the measure. Scioli is backed by outgoing leftist President Cristina Fernandez, who is popular with the poor and low-income workers for her generous social welfare programs.
    The tax cut addresses a key complaint from labour unions: that the tax burden on workers has increased as wages rise to keep pace with high inflation. Private economists estimate Argentina's inflation rate at about 25 percent.
    Scioli's main challenger in the presidential race is PRO candidate Mauricio Macri, the business-friendly mayor of Buenos Aires city whose bedrock of support is the urban middle and upper class. Macri already has said he would scrap income tax for workers.
    The 56-year-old son of a Buenos Aires construction magnate, Macri became a household name in the 1990s as president of the fabled Boca Juniors soccer club. After eight years as mayor of the capital, he is popular for cutting traffic with a new bus system, improving waste collection and sprucing up parks. His challenge has been to connect with poor and working class voters. Fernandez loyalists say he would cut vital welfare programs as part of a fiscal adjustment, which he denies.
    "What I'm not willing to do is take anyone off of federal help. The state and government must be close to those who most need it. What I'm not willing to do is see the world as an enemy," he said.
    Macri has campaigned on a platform of change, promising to dismantle capital controls and trade restrictions from his first day in office to win investor confidence and bring hard currency into the dollar-starved economy.
    The candidates' tax pledges raise questions over how either would tame a widening fiscal deficit.
    Argentina's inflation rate is soaring, state controls shackle the economy and its international bonds are in default, but the ruling party's candidate is still favoured to win the presidential election on Sunday, partly because President Cristina Fernandez remains the country's most popular politician.
    A divisive figure, Fernandez is loved by many for strengthening the social safety net and vilified by others for her interventionist economic policies.
    Scioli favours more orthodox economic policies than those implemented by Fernandez but he also supports her generous welfare policies and says reforms under him will be "gradual".
    The candidate currently believed to be coming in third is Sergio Massa, a moderate 43-year-old congressman who served briefly as a cabinet chief for Fernandez during her first administration. His defection dealt her a severe blow in the 2013 mid-term elections and scuppered her hopes to rewrite the constitution and stand for a third term.
    He promises to make crime fighting a high priority in his administration and pitches himself as a middle way between Scioli's gradual change and Macri's shock therapy.
    "We're building a change but a change to move forward. There is no need to go back to the 90s for Argentine to escape inflation and insecurity. We have the possibility for growth and development for a way out of this for Argentina," he said. "I want to invite you all to think clearly in the next 48 hours about what we deserve as a country. If you help help I have no doubt that on Sunday (October 25) we will be placed in the second round and if we're in the second round, I am sure that we're going to turn a page in history and end with Kirchnerism in Argentina. I ask for a lot of strength, a lot of confidence. There is little (time) left, let's go to the second round, let's go for victory. Thank you very much."
    Massa promises to end currency controls within 100 days in office and haul inflation down to 4-5 percent by the end of his first four-year term. Private estimates put inflation now at about 25 percent annually.
    Massa says improving the credibility of government statistics and ensuring the autonomy of the central bank and judiciary are key to restoring investor confidence.
    To walk away with the presidency on Sunday, a candidate needs to win 40 percent of the vote with a 10 point margin over his nearest challenger, who is likely to be Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri of the PRO party.
    In third is moderate Congressman Sergio Massa, a one-time Fernandez cabinet minister who defected from the ruling party in 2013 to form the Renewal Front.
    Fernandez is barred by law from seeking a third consecutive term.
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