Macri’s coalition sweeps Argentina’s mid-term vote
BUENOS AIRES, (Reuters) - Candidates allied with Argentine President Mauricio Macri enjoyed sweeping victories in yesterday’s mid-term election, strengthening his position in Congress while dimming prospects for a political comeback by his predecessor Cristina Fernandez.
A free-spending populist who nearly bankrupted the country during her 20072015 rule, Fernandez came in a distant second in her race for the Senate representing Buenos Aires, Argentina’s most populous province.
With 98 percent of ballots counted by the interior ministry, Macri’s former education minister, Esteban Bullrich, had 41.34 percent versus 37.27 percent for Fernandez in the province that is home to nearly 40 percent of Argentine voters.
Macri’s “Cambiemos” or “Let’s Change” coalition won the top five population centers of Buenos Aires City, and Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Santa Fe and Mendoza provinces. No single party had won all five in a mid-term vote since 1985.
“Today the change elected in 2015 has been consolidated,” Vice President Gabriela Michetti told voters.
The election results, largely in line with prevote opinion polls, robbed the opposition of the twothirds majority needed to block presidential vetoes, said Ignacio Labaqui, a local analyst with New York-based consultancy Medley Global Advisors.