Ruling-party candidate Daniel Scioli, governor of the powerful Buenos Aires province adjacent to the capital, won Sunday's presidential election, according to all media projections in the South American country, according to dpa. Scioli, who served as former president Nestor Kirchner's vice president, finished head in Sunday's vote, marking the end of the Kirchner era. Polling stations closed at 2100 GMT after 10 hours of voting. At least 70 per cent of the 32 million registered voters cast their ballots, authorities said. Whether a run-off election scheduled for November 22 will be necessary is not yet clear. The authorities will wait until they have "substantial and homogeneous data" before issuing the first preliminary official results at around 10 pm [0100 GMT], said elections secretary Sebastian Schimmel.؟ After 12 years of rule by Nestor Kirchner (2003-07), who died in office, and his wife and current president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (2007-15), the next president will at the very least have a different name. Despite media projections of a Scioli victory, his opponents were not ready to concede, casting doubt that Scioli would be able to by-pass a run-off. However, the campaign boss of Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri, of the centre-roght Cambiemos, who according to projections came second, said shortly after polling stations closed that "there will be a run-off." Argentinian electoral law says that in order to win the presidency in just one round of voting, a candidate needs to get either more than 45 per cent of the votes or more than 40 per cent with a lead of at least 10 percentage points over the closest rival. Opinion polls ahead of the election put Scioli, 58, a former powerboat pilot who lost his right arm in a racing accident, at close to 40 per cent, and the businessman Macri, 56, on around 30 per cent. Scioli described himself as a "fanatical optimist" after he cast his ballot in the suburb of Tigre, north of Buenos Aires. "It is like in football when a forward in front of the goal can always get off a kick," he said. In reference to the possibility of talks with the third-place winner in case of a runoff election, he said he is always open to speak with everyone. After voting at a school in the Palermo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Macri compared the election to an airline ticket that could lead the country to a new destination. He said the country had the opportunity to decide whether everything would go on as before or whether change would come. Sergio Massa, 43, a former government chief of staff under Fernandez de Kirchner who has built his platform mostly on fighting crime, seemed unlikely to get more than 20 per cent, according to opinion polls. Fernandez de Kirchner remains very popular as she leaves office, but the country's laws ban her from standing for a third consecutive term. While voting in Patagonia, she stressed that her government left Argentina a "normal, crisis-free country" as opposed to 2003 when her husband took over the government in the midst of a severe economic crisis. She said she would stay involved in politics, although she would not seek a new public office. The next president will take office on December 10 and will need to deal with inflation, as well as foreign exchange controls that have led to a thriving black market for dollars and shrinking central bank reserves. The winner will further need to address defaulted bond holders who have refused to settle with Argentina's government, after it defaulted on 95 billion dollars of debt in 2001. While more than 92 per cent of holders of defaulted bonds have accepted partial settlements or discounts, the remainder have sued Argentina in US courts for full reimbursement. The dispute is keeping Argentina out of most international credit markets.
