Ruling party candidate Daniel Scioli frequently attacked Macri, saying he would subject this nation of 41 million people to the market-driven policies of the 1990s, a period of deregulation that many Argentines believe set the stage for the financial meltdown of 2001-2002.
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Following his victory on Sunday night, Macri said that he was determined to see Argentina’s political landscape take a rightward turn.
Macri and Scioli fought a tense battle for votes in a country largely tired after 12 years under leftist leader Cristina Kirchner and her predecessor and late husband Nestor Kirchner.
Macri has vowed to ease foreign trade and lift Kirchner’s restrictions on the buying of U.S. dollars which propped up the peso currency to protect poorer Argentines’ spending power. The two-time mayor of Buenos Aires won 51.4 per cent of the vote, with more than 99 per cent of the ballots counted, according to electoral authorities.
Relations with the United States are also likely to improve under Mr. Macri, who will happily tone down Mrs. Kirchner’s pointless anti-American rhetoric and reach out to both the US government and private business.
“This is a painful day for Argentines”, said Rocio Robador, a government supporter who was crying in the iconic Plaza de Mayo.
Argentina’s official peso was at 9.675 per dollar on Wednesday, 57.3 percent stronger than the black market rate at which many local transactions are made.
Analysts also cautioned that Macri may struggle to get his reforms past hostile lawmakers.
Scioli, who had been President Fernández’s choice to lead Argentina, was gracious in defeat. Addressing a main voter concern, Macri stated Monday. he’ll declare a state of emergency against the “unpardonable” rise in violent crime across Argentina spurred by a rise in drug use & trafficking.
Argentina has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with other leftists in the region, including those in Cuba, Venezuela and Ecuador.
“We have lived too long with Peronism”, said Luis Nizzo, an 81-year-old retired engineer, after voting for Macri at a school in Buenos Aires.
Macri said on Tuesday that Susana Malcorra will be his top foreign representative after his December 10 inauguration.
A major plank of Fernandez’s foreign policy has been her failed effort to open talks with Great Britain over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, which are close to Argentina in the South Atlantic but governed by the British.
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Newspaper La Nacion reported that the director of Macri’s six-member economic cabinet was expected to be Gustavo Lopetegui, now chairman of the airline LAN Argentina.
