THE WORST ELECTION IN PRO'S HISTORY
Sunday, July 19, 2015PRO's Rodriguez Larreta elected Buenos Aires city mayor in tight runoff
Horacio Rodriguez Larreta, with his wife, Bárbara Diez.
Horacio Rodriguez Larreta, running on Macri's PRO ticket, today won the Buenos Aires city mayoral elections against ECO's Martín Lousteau.
The difference between both candidates is lower than in the first round but enough to succeed Mauricio Macri. With this result, the third period of Macri’s PRO ahead of the city government will begin and will last until 2019.
Buenos Aires City security Minister Guillermo Montenegro officially informed polls closed at 6 pm, and praised the electoral process carried out today for its agility.
"Thanks to the electronic vote, fewer lines were formed today. The process was very agile, and in the end, around 70 percent of people eligible to vote would have cast their ballots," he assured.
The two candidates spent election day in a similar fashion, with both eating breakfast alongside campaign allies before turning out to vote at the same time. The Downtown landmark Café Tortoni was Larreta's choice, a PRO tradition, and the Cabinet chief later made a visit to mass in a Balvanera church and will await results in the party's bunker.
Lousteau opted for Almagro's El Banderín, and voted at 11.30 in Palermo.
Rodríguez Larreta, Macri’s Cabinet Chief, has been ahead in the polls ever since he overcame the challenge from Senator Gabriela Michetti to win the PRO primaries, paving the way for the first transition from an elected PRO official to another one in a City that has been governed by the party since 2007.
Michetti ran for the PRO nomination to be mayor despite the wishes of high-ranking PRO officials that she run as Macri’s running mate. Macri loudly endorsed Larreta, an endorsement that was enough to win the primary. After having flatly and just as loudly refused to run as running-mate at the start of the year, Michetti is now Macri’s vice-presidential pick and has been campaigning ahead of the August primaries.
Michetti has a more charismatic profile than her internal rival Larreta, and the party had preferred to field her as a candidate at the national level rather than in the City where it has broader support.
Despite the PRO’s high approval ratings, Larreta failed to win more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round of voting on July 5 and will face off against Martín Lousteau of the ECO coalition, a grouping made up of offshoots of the dismembered UNEN. Ironically, the coalition fell apart over disputes over a national-level alliance with the PRO, a move spearheaded by the Radical Party (UCR) and the Civic Coalition (CC) and resisted by the Socialist Party (PS) and the more leftist parties in the defunct coalition. The UCR in the City is at the heart of Lousteau’s bid.
The difference between both candidates is lower than in the first round but enough to succeed Mauricio Macri. With this result, the third period of Macri’s PRO ahead of the city government will begin and will last until 2019.
Buenos Aires City security Minister Guillermo Montenegro officially informed polls closed at 6 pm, and praised the electoral process carried out today for its agility.
"Thanks to the electronic vote, fewer lines were formed today. The process was very agile, and in the end, around 70 percent of people eligible to vote would have cast their ballots," he assured.
The two candidates spent election day in a similar fashion, with both eating breakfast alongside campaign allies before turning out to vote at the same time. The Downtown landmark Café Tortoni was Larreta's choice, a PRO tradition, and the Cabinet chief later made a visit to mass in a Balvanera church and will await results in the party's bunker.
Lousteau opted for Almagro's El Banderín, and voted at 11.30 in Palermo.
Rodríguez Larreta, Macri’s Cabinet Chief, has been ahead in the polls ever since he overcame the challenge from Senator Gabriela Michetti to win the PRO primaries, paving the way for the first transition from an elected PRO official to another one in a City that has been governed by the party since 2007.
Michetti ran for the PRO nomination to be mayor despite the wishes of high-ranking PRO officials that she run as Macri’s running mate. Macri loudly endorsed Larreta, an endorsement that was enough to win the primary. After having flatly and just as loudly refused to run as running-mate at the start of the year, Michetti is now Macri’s vice-presidential pick and has been campaigning ahead of the August primaries.
Michetti has a more charismatic profile than her internal rival Larreta, and the party had preferred to field her as a candidate at the national level rather than in the City where it has broader support.
Despite the PRO’s high approval ratings, Larreta failed to win more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round of voting on July 5 and will face off against Martín Lousteau of the ECO coalition, a grouping made up of offshoots of the dismembered UNEN. Ironically, the coalition fell apart over disputes over a national-level alliance with the PRO, a move spearheaded by the Radical Party (UCR) and the Civic Coalition (CC) and resisted by the Socialist Party (PS) and the more leftist parties in the defunct coalition. The UCR in the City is at the heart of Lousteau’s bid.
The difference between both candidates is lower than in the first round but enough to succeed Mauricio Macri.
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