Towards a victory in the first round. Center-left Peronist candidate Alberto Fernandez topped Argentina's presidential election, ahead of incumbent President Mauricio Macri, show the nearly-official published results published on Sunday (October 27th).

After counting 80% of the ballot papers, Alberto Fernandez, whose runner-up is the former president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, is credited with 47.78%, ahead of Mauricio Macri at 41.08%. To win the presidency and avoid a second round on November 24, a candidate must have at least 45% of the vote or 40% of the vote with a difference of 10 points with the second.

A crowd of supporters of Alberto Fernandez met in front of the candidate's campaign headquarters to cheer him on. Mathilde Guillaume, correspondent of France 24, reports that "the atmosphere is with jubilation". "This resounding victory in the first round is a very clear expression of the Argentine people," said Felipe Solá, one of Alberto Fernandez's closest advisers.

Economic crisis

The atmosphere was quieter on the other side of the city, in the premises of Mauricio Macri. "The defeat looks very harsh, analysis Mathilde Guillaume.The main reason is of course the terrible economic crisis in which he plunged the country with its austerity measures.Evaluation, inflation, unemployment, poverty, return of hunger ... all the indicators are in the red The message of the middle and popular classes is clear: they want to breathe again and finish with these four years of deprivation.What announces with the Peronists is a model more social, more protectionist too. "

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According to Mathilde Guillaume, these results can also be analyzed "in the context of the crisis of the South American rights and the failure of these neoliberal policies.But if Chile or before him Ecuador protest in the street, the Argentineans l made today by the ballot boxes. "

Alberto Fernandez, will, to leave the country of the crisis, manage to create a consensus, which is not easy in an increasingly polarized Argentina.

The shadow of Cristina Kirchner

Investors fear that his victory will bring about the return of the interventionist policies of the period of Kirchnerism (2003-2015).

Analysts are also wondering who will actually govern: Alberto Fernandez, former chief of staff of Cristina Kirchner and her husband Nestor Kirchner (president from 2003 to 2007), or Cristina Kirchner, 66 years.

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Accustomed to economic upheavals, many Argentines gathered Friday in front of banks and exchange offices to buy dollars or withdraw their deposits. Since the primaries, Argentinian savers have withdrawn some $ 12 billion from their accounts, about 36.4% of the total.

Alberto Fernandez tried to reassure them. "Let the Argentines be quiet, we will respect your deposits," he said, referring to the specter of "corralito", the unofficial name of the measures taken in 2001 in Argentina to end a race for liquidity and the flight of capital.

With AFP and Reuters