Buenos Aires Governor Daniel Scioli today confirmed that he has signed his resignation to his seat in the Lower House, to which he was expected to be sworn in on December 10, and will keep the governorship of Argentina's largest district. Scioli's leutenant-governor, Alberto Balestrini also declined to take his seat in Congress.

Scioli and Balestrini, as well as other government officials including former cabinet chief Sergio Massa, ran for seats in the legislative branch in the June 28 mid-term elections as a move to back the Kirchner administration, hit by a heavy dispute with the farming sector and the global economic crisis.

The so-called "testimonial candidacies" had sparked strong criticism from the opposition, who claimed Scioli was deceiving voters as he would never take office in the seat to which he was elected.

Scioli said he signed his resignation last night, and it was presented before the electoral court in La Plata by the trustee of the Peronist party Jorge Landau today.

"It's a thing we had talked about at its own time, the text is now at your disposition" Scoli told reporters in La Plata today. Scioli said that "this is what we had coordinated and commented with Balestrini. Another promise we fulfilled."