A Run-off for Macri’s Re-Election Bid

A Run-off for Macri’s Re-Election Bid

After falling short of a majority vote last Sunday, the conservative Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri will have to face a run-off in his re-election bid.

Macri apparently had a 47 percent of the over 2.4 million voters of Buenos Aires, which is only 9% of Argentina’s total voting population. President Cristina Fernandez’s hand-picked candidate, Sen. Daniel Filmus came second at nearly 28 percent, while Fernando “Pino Solanas, the leftist filmmaker received 13 percent.

This gave way to a contest between the president’s model of governing and that of Macri, which will be held on July 31st. Macri is a civil engineer by profession, being the president of the popular Boca Juniors football club was his ticket to entering politics.

According to reports, Macri was supposed to run for presidency this October national elections, but due to Fernandez's increasing popularity he chose the safer challenge.

This had caused Fernandez to choose Filmus, a leftist who had served as education secretary under President Nestor Kirchner and became personally involved in the campaign. The result of the deliberation last Sunday was considered "a triumph" by Filmus and has continued to urge the voters to politically unify the city and country by forming a new majority. However, majority of the Argentines still expect Fernandez to be re-elected in the October 23 presidential election.

Posted by James Fried on Monday July 11 2011, 12:31 PM EST. Ref: Yahoo News. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0