Buenos Aires set to elect new mayor Mauricio Macri, Buenos Aires’ City Mayor and Argentina’s presidential contender, shows his ballot in an election for city mayor.

AFP/Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires yesterday headed to the polls to vote for a new mayor, with the country’s right hoping to retain its stronghold ahead of October’s presidential election.
Horacio Rodriguez Larreta, of the right-leaning PRO party, was leading polls heading into the election.
The candidate is backed by current Buenos Aires mayor Mauricio Macri, who is running for president.
Macri said last week it was not likely Rodriguez Larreta would reach the 50% threshold needed to avoid a runoff.
Surveys indicate that moderate-right ECO coalition candidate Martin Lousteau could likely face off with Rodriguez Larreta in a possible second-round of voting, set for July 19.
Lousteau, an economist, is President Cristina Kirchner’s former economy minister.
Mariano Recalde, president of Aerolineas Argentinas, who is favoured by Kirchner, was third in recent opinion polls.
Kirchner was elected in 2011 for a second term as president and under the constitution is not permitted to run for a third term when elections are held later this year.
Santiago Videla, director of the SV Investigacion consulting firm, downplayed the impact of yesterday’s election on October’s presidential race.
“I think there is not a direct link between the result in the capital and the presidential elections,” he said.
Fabian Perechodnik, director of the Poliarquia consulting firm, cited Macri’s high approval ratings as a source of his candidate’s success in the polls.
“The high level of support for Rodriguez Larreta is very much related to Macri’s management,” he said.
The mayor, a deputy mayor and 30 municipal legislators are to be elected.
Two other provinces - central Cordoba and northwestern La Rioja – were yesterday electing a governor, while south-central La Pampa holds primaries and northeastern Corrientes will vote for provincial legislators.

Related Story