Argentines vote in country’s first runoff election

Opposition candidate Mauricio Macri promises to maintain a safety net for the poor but says he will overhaul the economy to address inflation estimated around 30 percent and a byzantine monetary system that has spawned a booming black market.

In the fifteen minutes long speech Scioli strongly condemned statements from Jaime Duran Barba, who is Macri’s campaign strategist and quoted saying that “no citizen votes asking the Pope whom he should support”, and added that Francis “doesn’t change not even ten votes in an election”.

Scioli, 58, a milder ally of Kirchner, won 37.8 percent of the vote in the first round on October 25.

Mr Scioli was marginally ahead in the first round, with 36.7% to 34.5%.

WHAT’S AT STAKE: Scioli promised to continue the Kirchners’ welfare state policies while making corrections to get the economy back on track.

Macri has criticized Scioli for aligning with Fernandez.

“Argentina can only grow with a government that will tell the truth”, said Macri, who comes from one of the country’s richest families and gained a national profile as president of a popular soccer club Boca Juniors. Therefore, a presidency led by the socialist candidate would have the most continuity with the current policies of the Fernandez administration.

In his closing campaign speech on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, a hotbed of support for the ruling party, Scioli called Cambiemos “a pact with the devil”, and warned voters “not to be tricked by the word change”.

Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri is expected to win the country’s run-off presidential election Sunday after a month of intense campaigning.

They presided over a spectacular economic turnaround that is now flagging.

Macri has said he would push for greater privatization and re-establish links with global organizations like the IMF.

Macri has vowed to negotiate with predatory “vulture fund” creditors that rejected the debt restructuring that followed Argentina’s debt default in 2002.

Outgoing president Cristina Fernandez, who was preceded in office by her late husband Nestor Kirchner, is as revered by the poor for her generous welfare programmes as she is reviled by business for the strict controls the couple put on the economy during their 12 years in power. “Come on Argentina, Let’s change”!!!, concluded Macri.

But despite the uncertainty of Scioli’s exact direction on social programs, the candidate has already shown his left-leaning plans for the economy. “Populism is a scourge”, said Luis Nizzo, an 81-year-old retired engineer, after voting at a school in Buenos Aires. He has attracted particular criticism from parts of the agricultural sector for promoting policies that would prompt a “return to neoliberal agriculture” that had devastating impacts on small and medium-sized farmers.

While a few of their proposals were similar, there were also clear differences.

Macri plans to renew partnerships with the U.S and roll back ties with left-wing countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador. He has also spoken in favor of shooting down planes suspected of carrying illegal drugs.

Observers have complained that the two candidates lack charisma, but the stakes of their contest are potentially dramatic.

President Cristina Fernandez with Latin American Presidents Nicolas Maduro, Evo Morales, and Rafael Correa.