PRO pre-candidate Miguel Del Sel came first by a very narrow margin in the primary elections for governor in Santa Fe, whilst Alfredo Cornejo from the Frente Cambia Mendoza coalition won more comfortably in the Andean province.
Santa Fe
Miguel Del Sel (left) and Miguel Lifschitz (right)
With 100% of the votes counted, PRO —which only had one pre-candidate for governor participating in the election— obtained 32.2% of the total vote, whilst the governing Frente Progresista Cívico y Social (UCR and Socialist Party) got a combined 31.82% —a difference of only 0.38%.
The vote for the Frente Progresista was split between Socialist Miguel Lifschitz (335,808 votes) and Radical Mario Barletta (139,977), with Lifschitz winning his coalition’s primary to be the candidate in the general election of 14th June.
Frente Para la Victoria (FPV), who also had one pre-candidate in the race, Omar Perotti, came third with 21.88% of the vote. Sergio Massa’s Frente Renovador (FR) obtained a total of 7.72%, split between pre-candidates Eduardo Buzzi (45%) and Oscar ‘Cachi’ Martínez (55%), who will represent the party in the June election.
Del Sel, a former comedian, celebrated his narrow victory giving a press conference with PRO leader Mauricio Macri and former Santa Fe governor Carlos Reutemann. He said he believed people voted for him “because they saw I didn’t just stay as a simple comedian: I took courses, I studied, I trained myself.”
Lifschitz, meanwhile, analysed the results highlighting the “absolute polarisation” that will take place on 14th June between PRO and the Frente Progresista. “We need to consolidate our position and go out and get the votes we need to win,” he said.
The results for the provincial deputies’ primaries were significantly different: in this category, PRO came third with 13.88% of the vote, whilst the combined vote for the Frente Progresista’s seven pre-candidates was of 44.22% —with the ballot headed by current Socialist governor Antonio Bonfatti obtaining 32.74% of the total.
The FPV, meanwhile, obtained 22.64% of the vote for deputies, split between six tickets; the one headed by Héctor Cavallero, with 9.11% of the total, will compete in the general election.
Mendoza
Alfredo Cornejo (photo: Wikipedia)
In Mendoza, Radical pre-candidate for the Frente Cambia Mendoza and Godoy Cruz mayor Alfredo Cornejo, was winning the primary election for governor with 44.91% of the vote. With 86.5% of the votes counted, the FPV —currently governing the province— had obtained a combined total of 40.36% between its three competing pre-candidates, with Senator Adolfo Bermejo leading the internal race with 24.81%.
The left-wing Frente de Izquierda y los Trabajadores (FIT) was the only other party to get over the vote threshold of 1.5% required to participate in the general election. Its only pre-candidate, Noelia Barbeito, obtained 6.94% of the vote.
Whilst Cabinet Chief Aníbal Fernández called the result in Mendoza “a technical draw”, Cornejo celebrated his victory in the primaries thinking about an impending governorship. “We’re willing to help governor [Francisco] Pérez finish his term, but we need him to recognise the crisis in Mendoza,” said Cornejo, “we hope he will recognise this so we can start working with our teams.”
Even though Cornejo represented a coalition between the UCR, PRO, and FR, Radical party authorities requested PRO and FR leaders Mauricio Macri and Sergio Massa not to join the celebrations in Mendoza, as they considered the results “a Radical victory”.
Mendoza will hold its election for governor, provincial deputies and senators, mayors, and town councillors on 21st June.
The post Primary Elections: Opposition Victories in Santa Fe and Mendoza appeared first on The Argentina Independent.