BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentina’s main opposition alliance, Juntos por el Cambio, has won the governorship of Santa Fe province, the country’s third most populous, in a sweeping victory for the conservative bloc, according to official provisional election data.
As of Sunday evening, Maximiliano Pullaro had won 60.60% of the votes, while the candidate for the Peronista alliance Union por la Patria, Marcelo Lewandowski, obtained 29.25%, with votes counted in 57.14% of the province’s polling centers.
One of the most important agricultural districts in Argentina, Santa Fe is home to the Rosario agricultural port complex, from which more than 80% of the country’s agricultural shipments are exported.
The provincial elections were held in the midst of a major economic crisis, with annual inflation accelerating to almost 115%. The landslide victory for the opposition alliance comes six weeks before Argentina’s presidential elections on Oct. 22, when the ruling center-left Peronist party will seek to retain power with current Economy Minister Sergio Massa as its candidate.
The latest national polls show an advantage for the libertarian economist Javier Milei, followed by Massa and the Juntos por el Cambio candidate, Patricia Bullrich.
(Reporting by Eliana Raszewski in Buenos Aires; Writing by Jackie Botts; Editing by Leslie Adler)
