ARGENTINA-ELECTION/PRIMARY-REAX Argentine presidential race wide open after primaries

Record ID: 144543

  • Title: ARGENTINA-ELECTION/PRIMARY-REAX Argentine presidential race wide open after primaries
  • Date: 10th August 2015
  • Summary: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (AUGUST 10, 2015) (REUTERS) BUENOS AIRES OBELISK MONUMENT VARIOUS OF CARS AND PEOPLE DOWNTOWN NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINE STAND VARIOUS OF NEWSPAPER HEADLINES
  • Embargoed: 25th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Argentina
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAA0R5F24I1SRLN7V3S7XC91SY2
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Argentina's presidential race was wide open on Monday (August 10) and likely to be settled in a run-off vote after primaries indicated ruling party candidate Daniel Scioli did not have enough support to win outright in the first round in October.
    The prospect of a head-to-head between Scioli and his more business-friendly rival, Mauricio Macri, sent Argentine bond prices higher, with defaulted U.S. dollar discount bonds hitting a two-month high.
    Macri has promised to unravel swiftly outgoing President Cristina Fernandez's controls on the economy to free up the market. Scioli advocates gradual change but his defense of leftist Fernandez's policies led opponents to question his credentials.
    Scioli, who will need woo undecided voters, said he would not shy away from making policy corrections needed to further the development of Latin America's No. 3 economy.
    With 98 percent of votes counted, official results showed Scioli, who ran unopposed for the ruling Front for Victory party's ticket, winning 38.41 percent. Macri's Let's Change alliance secured 30.07 percent of votes.
    A candidate needs 45 percent, or 40 percent with a 10-point margin over the second-place candidate, to win the first round of the election outright on Oct. 25. Argentina's primaries allow voters to cast ballots across party lines and so provide an accurate account of public opinion ahead of the first round.
    Economic analyst, Fausto Spotorno, said Scioli, Macri and Massa all will have to face the same economic troubles, regardless of who wins.
    "There is not much difference between Scioli and Macri with regards to what they will have to do for the Argentine economy. In other words, they will both have to solve the economic deficit. Both will probably have to tackle the issue of hold-outs and adjust public service tariffs. There is not much difference in the path where Scioli could differentiate from Macri or Massa. The truth is that next year and probably during the next two years, the economy will be dominated by the needs of the economic policy, without taking into account what a candidate wants to do or could do. The only alternative to do what needs to be done within the macro economy is to become more extreme, like an extreme Kirchner, which is something I don't see in Scioli and less still in Macri or Massa," Spotorno said.
    In early trading, Argentina's defaulted 2033 U.S. dollar Discount bonds rose as much as 1.47 percent to a two-month high of 100.917 before easing off, Thomson Reuters data showed.
    Argentina's benchmark Merval index was up 6 percent late in the afternoon.
    Political analyst, Graciela Romer, said the primaries have not determined a front-runner.
    "The supposed polarisation (between Scioli/Macri) has not been established. To talk about a polarization we would have to talk about 80 and more percent of the votes in two electoral bodies (which means two electoral choices, i.e. two parties) and here between the two, we have only 70 percent. Thirty percent is outstanding which could really sort out the options for the first round," Romer said.
    Opinion polls are split on who would win a close-fought second round run-off. How the votes of third-placed candidate, dissident Peronist Sergio Massa, are split will be key.
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