BUENOS AIRES — Just days before Argentina’s presidential runoff vote, center-right Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri has emerged as the unlikely front-runner as voters appear poised to turn the page on the 12-year rule of populist incumbent Cristina Fernandez and her late husband and predecessor, Nestor Kirchner.
A Macri win in the continent’s second most populous country would mark the first major electoral defeat for the leftist governments that have dominated South America for the better part of a decade. A member of a prominent family of entrepreneurs, the opposition leader would likely embark on a more market-friendly course and aim to improve Argentina’s strained ties with Washington.
Anticipating a U-turn in foreign policy, Mr. Macri said in Sunday’s final debate with Daniel Scioli, Ms. Fernandez’s handpicked heir, that he would ask the Mercosur trade bloc to suspend Venezuela over the “abuses” of leftist President Nicolas Maduro, whom he accused of holding “political prisoners” and fostering “military participation” in government.
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Ms. Fernandez — a close personal friend and admirer of Mr. Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez — had long counted the Venezuelan leader as one of her key allies and routinely accused the U.S. of interfering in the internal affairs of their countries. She is barred from running again after eight years in the Casa Rosada, Argentina’s executive mansion.
Critics of the outgoing Argentine president have warned that her policies might lead to a Venezuelan-style economic meltdown, and Mr. Macri has argued that tight currency controls have failed to quell capital flight in both countries.
His arguments appear to be finding an audience.
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In an opinion poll published Nov. 13 by the Clarin daily, Mr. Macri holds an 8-point lead over Mr. Scioli, the governor of the Buenos Aires region. With opposition parties largely coalescing around the challenger, the former president of the Boca Juniors soccer club has held similar advantages in nine out of 10 surveys conducted since he came in a close second Oct. 25 in the first round of the election.
What had been a lackluster campaign has turned into a fiery duel between the candidates, with Mr. Macri assailing his rival’s deep ties to the increasingly unpopular president and Mr. Scioli warning that a Macri win would invariably end in a doomsday scenario of brutal spending cuts, fiscal austerity and concessions to Argentina’s foreign creditors.
Most observers now believe that the election is Mr. Macri’s to lose, in part because Mr. Scioli faces a dilemma in trying to win over voters critical of Ms. Fernandez without offending his own base, said Joaquin Morales Sola of the La Nacion daily.
In interviews and TV spots, the candidate of the Peronist Front for Victory coalition attempted that balancing act, promising to be “more Scioli than ever” and acknowledging voters’ “anger” over the recent record of the government.
Still, “it is going to be very difficult for Scioli,” Mr. Morales Sola said.
“Sixty percent of society has asked for a change,” he said. “That is what has provoked such a change in the scenario.”
Jab-filled debate
Sunday’s jab-filled debate, meanwhile, may only have solidified the situation as both candidates largely stuck to their guns. Predictably, Mr. Macri never tired of comparing his rival to Ms. Fernandez during the clash, attacking what he said was her abrasive and authoritarian governing style.
“What have you turned into, Daniel? What have they turned you into? ” the mayor asked at one point. “… We need a president who talks less and listens more, who does press conferences and not televised statements, who understands the value of the team and not [a] personality cult.”
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