Argentina’s Macri wins crucial mid-term poll

BUENOS AIRES: Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri’s centreright coalition swept crucial midterm elections on Sunday and emerged with a strengthened hand to carry through promarket economic reforms, according to nearly completed count results.

Ex-president Cristina Kirchner took a seat in the Senate, marking a return to the political stage she dominated for 12 years before stepping down in 2015, and guaranteeing herself parliamentary immunity from a string of corruption charges.

“We did not win as a party; what won was the certainty that we can change history, and build with love,” a triumphant Macri told cheering supporters in Buenos Aires.

“An Argentine with desire has no limits, we are unstoppable,” he said.

Kirchner said her new centre-left Unidad Ciudadana, or “Citizen’s Unity” party, had distinguished itself in the vote as the only alternative to Macri’s government.

“We must be proud of this result. Unidad Ciudadana has emerged as the strongest opposition to this government,” an ebullient Kirchner told her supporters.

“Nothing ended right here. This is where everything starts,” she said.

Macri’s Cambiemos, or “Let’s Change,” won in 13 of Argentina’s 23 provinces, as well as in the capital Buenos Aires, according to almost completed counts early Monday.

Sunday’s vote, with an official turnout of 78 per cent, was widely seen as a referendum on Macri after two years in office, in which he was seeking a mandate to further overhaul of an ailing G20 economy.