ARGENTINA-ELECTION/MAYOR RUNOFF RESULTS Argentine opposition wins Buenos Aires city hall for third term

Record ID: 146645

  • Title: ARGENTINA-ELECTION/MAYOR RUNOFF RESULTS Argentine opposition wins Buenos Aires city hall for third term
  • Date: 20th July 2015
  • Summary: MACRI DANCING AMONG BALLOONS AT RALLY
  • Embargoed: 4th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Argentina
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVADQPKUT6YQI2XQETKFLC2HMDWL
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Argentina's business-friendly PRO party won the Buenos Aires mayoral runoff on Sunday (July 19), clinging to its stronghold for a third consecutive term ahead of presidential elections in October, but prevailed by a smaller-than-expected margin.
    Horacio Rodriguez Larreta, the chief of staff of outgoing mayor and PRO presidential candidate Mauricio Macri, won 51.6 percent of ballots cast on Sunday, official returns showed.
    "Today we begin a new challenge, with great responsibility to continue and deepen this process of change and, as Mauricio (Macri) says, lifting our standards a bit. In the next stage, we must do more and I'm convinced that more can be done. I'm convinced because we have a team that has learned, has matured, that has experience, but that maintains the mysticism and energy of transformation. But I'm also very optimistic about the future because, with Mauricio as president, Argentina will recover and get back on the path of growth, of development, of well-being for all," Larreta told cheering and clapping supporters.
    That put Larreta only a few points ahead of ECO party candidate Martin Lousteau, who picked up 48.4 percent with 99 percent of the vote counted. Larreta had been expected to leave Lousteau trailing by a margin of 9 to 13 points.
    With Buenos Aires, the PRO's power base, accounting for about 8 percent of Argentina's national vote, Macri would have hoped his party would win by a wider margin.
    He must drum up support elsewhere to win in the presidential elections on Oct. 25.
    "We must awaken that part of our conscience that is sleeping, that carries us to be protagonists of our destiny, of our future, of our happiness. That's why I want to ask, give me your hand and we will go together to construct that Argentina that we dream about for us and for our children. Let's go together. Today, more together than ever. Today, more together than ever. Thank you very much. Let's go, Argentina!" he said at Rodriguez Larreta's victory rally.
    Lousteau said he would continue to be a voice in the city's affairs.
    "We're going to be, as we've always been throughout this campaign, a constructive opposition that knows how to propose, that knows how to accompany things that should be accompanied, that argues which are the priorities that the city's administration should have and that, besides, point out all our ethical concerns," he told supporters.
    The candidate of President Cristina Fernandez's party, Front for Victory, had crashed out in the first round of voting two weeks ago. Since then, party members have dismissed the runoff as irrelevant, saying the PRO and ECO are much akin.
    Those who voted ECO - a regional alliance - in the Buenos Aires elections could end up voting PRO on a national level.
    The outgoing president is constitutionally barred from seeking a third consecutive term. She has endorsed the candidacy of Daniel Scioli, governor of the Buenos Aires province.
    Fernandez is faulted by big business for imposing a web of currency and trade controls that have hurt the economy, which has teetered on the brink of recession over the past year and has one of the world's highest inflation rates.
    The Buenos Aires elections have highlighted her party's lack of popularity in the capital.
    But the Front for Victory remains popular in Argentina's provinces in part because of this government's generous subsidies. Scioli, who is expected to keep some of Fernandez's policy mix but return to slightly more orthodox economics, is leading polls.
    Macri, who vows to remove controls and open the economy to attract investment, is a few points behind.
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