“Today is a historic day, a new era,” said Mauricio Macri, the man elected to be Argentina’s next president.
Running as an opposition candidate, against the former president Christina Fernandez de Kirchner’s hand picked predecessor, Daniel Scioli, his victory marks the end of a political dynasty.
With more than 98% of votes counted, Macri of the Let’s Change coalition had won 51.4% of votes, while Scioli had garnered nearly 48.6%, according to CNN and election officials.
Fernandez watched the counting of the votes with a keen eye, knowing her reign could come to a bitter end, after eight years. A shift in voters mindsets, towards more of the left, played a pivotal role in what could be a shift in the balance of powers.
This is not only beneficial to Argentina but the finance world as well. This could be the long awaited push in the chain to change how the South American country handles its debt problems and interacts with Wall Street. Part of Macri’s campaign efforts was his proposition to modify the countries economy, which made him a cool kid on Wall Street and drew heavy criticism from opponents.
Being the mayor of Buenos Aires and the former President of the Boca Juniors football club, were enough to convince his fellow compatriots that his past experiences made him a perfect fit as a leader. Macri is said to be a center-right candidate, according to CNN, which could lead to a conservative shift.
The state-run Telam news agency reported late Sunday that Fernandez wasn’t being a sore loser and congratulated Macri for his election win and planned to meet with him sometime next week.