Argentina gets new president as banks braced for economic drop
● Peronists celebrate triumph after Macri concedes defeat
Peronists celebrated their return to power after incumbent president Mauricio Macri conceded defeat in a dramatic election that probably swung the country back to the centre-left, saw the return of a divisive former president and threatened to rattle financial markets.
As investors nervously eyed yesterday’s market opening, thousands of jubilant supporters of Alberto Fernandez and his vice-presidential running mate, former president Cristina Fernandez, waved Argentine flags and chanted: “We’re coming back”.
“Today Alberto is the president of all Argentines,” Ms Fernandez told supporters, some of whom brandished tattoos with her image and the image of her late husband and predecessor as president, Nestor Kirchner. Authorities said Mr Fernandez had 48.1 per cent of the votes compared with 40.4 per cent for Mr Macri, with almost 97 per cent of votes counted. He needed 45 per cent support, or 40 per cent support with a 10 percentage point lead, over the nearest rival to avoid a run-off vote on 24 November.
The election was dominated by concerns over the country’s economic woes and rising poverty, with voters rejecting austerity measures that Mr Macri insisted were needed to revive the struggling economy.
“The only thing that concerns us is that Argentines stop suffering once and for all,” Mr Fernandez told the crowd.
The 60-year-old lawyer said he would need the support of Mr Macri’s administration to reconstruct what he called the inherited “ashes” of Argentina.
“We’re back and we’re going to be better,” he said.
Earlier on Sunday, Mr Macri told disappointed supporters he had called Mr Fernandez to congratulate him and invited him for a breakfast chat yesargentina’s terday at the presidential palace. “We need an orderly transition that will bring tranquillity to all Argentines because the most important thing is the wellbeing of all Argentines,” Mr Macri said.
Argentina’s inflation rate is one of the highest in the world. Nearly one third of Argentines are poor and its currency has plunged under Mr Macri, who came into power in 2015 with promises to boost South America’s third-largest economy and one of the world’s top grain producers.
When Mr Macri did surprisingly poorly in August party primaries, which are seen as a barometer of candidate popularity, stocks plunged and the peso depreciated on the possibility of a return to the interventionist economic policies of Ms Fernandez, who governed from 2007 to 2015.
Observers fear the same could happen again.
Argentina’s central bank said it would sharply limit the amount of dollars that people could buy amid growing worries of a rapid loss of foreign exchangefollowingmrmacri’s apparent loss. The bank said dollar purchases would be restricted to $200 (£156) a month by bank account and $100 cash until December. The previous amount allowed was $10,000 a month.
“The last two years have been brutal in Argentina,” said Benjamin Gedan, an Argentina expert at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars in Washington, DC. “Voters have suffered a painful recession, unimaginably high inflation and a debt crisis. No incumbent could survive in these conditions.”
Mr Gedan said Mr Fernandez was “an untested leader” whose proposed solutions to Argentina’s daunting challenges remain a mystery and who inherits a ruinous economy and unfavourable international conditions.
Sunday’s result would also mark a dramatic return to high office for Ms Fernandez, whomopponentssaymightbe the power behind Mr Fernandez’s throne.
The running mates, who are not related, dismissed those concerns.