Conservative defeats Kirchner Peronists in Argentina presidential race

On Sunday, conservative Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri was elected president of Argentina, beating the governor of Buenos Aires province, Daniel Scioli, 51 percent to 49 percent. Scioli, the hand-picked successor of outgoing President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, conceded defeat Sunday night, and Macri declared the election "the changing of an era." That era was defined by Fernandez and her late husband and predecessor, Nestor Kirchner, who took control of Argentina in 2003 after a political mess that followed a crippling financial crisis in 2001.

Kirchner and Fernandez, representing the Peronist movement, veered Argentina to the left socially and economically, and Macri has promised to open the country up to foreign investment and freer trade — though pollsters say that he was able to come from behind, after losing to Scioli in the Oct. 25 first round of voting, by downplaying his economic policies and focusing on promises of economic growth and efficient government in a period of high inflation and stagnating wages.

Macri, 56, has promised to try to push Venezuela out of the Mercosur trade bloc due to the leftist government's imprisonment of political prisoners and to improve relations with the U.S. and other countries. Haling from one of Argentina's wealthiest families, Macri was president of the popular Boca Junior soccer club for 12 years. He will take office Dec. 10.

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