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Argentina 2015 Election: Live Results As Voters Pick New President To Replace Cristina Fernandez De Kirchner

By Nathan Francis
Published on: 12:55 PST, Oct 23, 2015

The 2015 election in Argentina is nearly underway, and live results will show who will be selected to become the South American nation’s next president.

The two-term president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, is reaching the end of her second term and will not be able to run again until 2019.

There are some hot-button issues for Argentina’s 2015 election. Many are upset at the Kirchner administration — which includes the rule of Cristina’s late husband, Nestor Kirchner — for the country’s rising inflation and slow economic growth.

As The Economist noted, the country’s fiscal problems run deep.

“She leaves an economy in even worse shape than it looks. Like other commodity producers, Argentina is suffering from falling prices for its exports. To this, Ms. Fernández has added woes of her own making. The government keeps the peso overvalued. It taxes soyabeans and other exports, thereby punishing the country’s most competitive producers. It has repelled foreign capital by defaulting on debt and refusing to settle with its creditors.”

Others believe the Kirchners gave too much power to the government in the legal process, overturning amnesty laws that protected low-ranking leaders for crimes that took place during the country’s military rule, which stretched from 1976 to 1983.

“I think that the Kirchner-Fernández administration has turned the society into one full of hatred and [shows] no respect towards those who think differently,” says Maria Arreseygor, a 24-year-old university student in Buenos Aires, in an interview with NBC News.

Others believe the next president will have a big task.

“Whoever wins must take urgent economic, political, and international measures,” said student Filipe Nicholson in an interview with NBC News. “We have to befriend the world again. The next president must solve the hatred that has grown within the society.”

The results of the 2015 election could show little change for Argentina. Kirchner’s appointed successor, Daniel Scioli, is the frontrunner and won the important primaries, seen as a mock election of sorts.

Scioli has leaned heavily on the popularity of Fernandez’s policies. His campaign literature links him to the president’s populist accomplishments, and he even uses a picture showing Fernandez in the center and himself off to the side.

Scioli’s main competition comes from Mauricio Macri, the mayor of Buenos Aires. He has a dedicated group of supporters who wear the campaign colors of orange, pink, and yellow, setting up booths in the nation’s capital.

But Macri is also running a campaign light on substance, with little reference to his record. Instead his supporters have handed out pamphlets with Macri’s picture and the words “Cambiemos” or “Let’s change.”

There is a chance that voters will not yet know their new president. If no candidate reaches 45 percent of the total vote — or 40 percent with at least a 10 percent lead over the next closest candidate — then it will go to a runoff that will be held in November.

As the Guardian noted, Scioli won just 38 percent of the vote in the primary, meaning it could fall into the runoff zone.

Those who follow live results of the Argentina 2015 election will follow more than just a presidential race. Both the upper and lower houses will see big changes, with a new upper house and half of a new lower house up for a vote.

There are some other issues surrounding the Argentina election. Many observers have criticized the voting process, which involves paper ballots and has been prone to fraud.

Those who want to follow live results of the 2015 Argentina election can turn to the Buenos Aires Herald and La Nacion.

[Image via YouTube]

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