The future of President Cristina Fernandez is one of the biggest questions in Argentina today.
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To avoid a second round of voting in November, either candidate would have needed 45 per cent support, or 40 per cent with a 10 percentage point lead over his closest rival.
The polls closed at 6 pm local time, with 70 percent of the eligible population turning out for the elections, the Argentine Electoral Commission said.
“Macri can inaugurate whatever he wants”, said Claudio Toledo, 41, who voted for Scioli.
A large share of the vote was still to be counted in the capital, Buenos Aires, but it seems certain that neither man secured the necessary support to win outright, so they must now go head-to-head on 22 November.
“There will be a runoff” said Macri spokesman Marcos Pena. While it wasn’t enough to get him through to the run-off, it puts him in an influential position over the next four weeks because both Scioli and Macri need to court his supporters.
Sergio Massa, a left-of-center congressman, trailed in third with 21 percent, while three other candidates were further behind.
In Haiti, almost 15,000 policemen as well as United Nations peacekeepers and election observers from the Organization of American States were on hand to ensure peaceful and fraud free presidential, municipal and legislative elections in the country that has just 10 elected senators following the collapse of the congress in January.
His top rivals were Macri, the mayor of Buenos Aires and a former president of one of Argentina’s most popular soccer clubs, and Massa, a former ally of Fernandez’s who moved into the opposition.
The happy candidate is out to change Argentina, which is in an economically tough place with an inflation rate at 25 percent.
“The truth is I don’t like any of the candidates”, said Anai Roy, a college student who said she would make a choice in the polling booth.
In her words, “I’ll decide who I vote for when I’m inside”.
In another damaging blow to the ruling party, Macri’s alliance won the gubernatorial election in Buenos Aires province, Argentina’s most populous, where Fernandez had hoped to install her cabinet chief Anibal Fernandez.
Speaking several hours before the official results were known, Scioli called for support from “undecided and independent” voters in an address that sounded much like a campaign speech.
Many Argentines are anxious about high government spending and inflation around 30 percent as well as being concerned about the legal fight with creditors in the US that has kept the country out of worldwide credit markets.
Scioli bristles at such suggestions, pointing to his long career in politics which included a stint as vice president to Nestor Kirchner, Fernandez’s predecessor and late husband. If he falls short of that, the two leading candidates will face off in a second round next month.
Scioli, a former boat racer who lost his right arm in an accident, presented himself as the continuation of Fernandez’s policies but who would also fix anything broken.
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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) – Argentines will be weighing continuity versus a financial overhaul Sunday as they pick the successor to President Cristina Fernandez, a polarizing leader who dominated national politics for 12 years.
