BUENOS AIRES – Centre-left Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is heading for easy re-election with 55 per cent of the vote, according to sources with access to an exit poll funded by the government.
Ms Kirchner’s nearest competitor was Socialist provincial governor Hermes Binner with 14 per cent of the vote, the poll showed, several hours before voting booths were to close yesterday.
Ms Kirchner (58), known for her interventionist economic policies and combative style, needs to get 45 per cent of the vote to win re-election outright. She also could avoid a run-off with 40 per cent plus a 10-point lead over the runner-up.
This would give her a mandate to continue policies that have riled pro-market farmers and business leaders while locking in the support of voters helped by her generous spending on programmes for poor families and the elderly.
“I don’t like Cristina’s political style but thanks to her I could retire,” Ana Rossi (74) said as she left her polling station in a Buenos Aires suburb.
“It’s out of gratitude that I voted for her.”
Ms Kirchner may also regain the control of congress she lost in the 2009 mid-term election.
The sharp-tongued former senator has nationalised private pension funds, raised taxes on soy exports and kept quotas on wheat and corn shipments.
Growers say such interventionist measures dampen much-needed investment in agriculture, Argentina’s top source of hard currency.
The president was swarmed by followers as she voted in her home province of Santa Cruz. She defended her policies as having led to solid growth at a time of global turmoil.
“When you look at what’s happening in the world, you can feel very proud to be Argentine,” Ms Kirchner said just after casting her ballot at a voting station set up in a local school.
She won more than 50 per cent of the vote in an August primary election that served as a giant opinion poll because all parties had already chosen their candidates.
Surveys say Ms Kirchner has since widened her lead. The combative leader has made a dramatic comeback from low approval ratings that had dogged much of her first term. – (Reuters)