Macri takes 20-point lead on Filmus, both headed to runoff

City Mayor Mauricio Macri took a 20-point lead on Kirchnerite mayoral candidate Daniel Filmus, but none of the candidates managed to obtain more than 50 percent of the votes. Just like in 2007, both candidates will once again run against each other in a second round in July 31st.. 

With 100 percent of the votes recounted, incumbent Mayor Mauricio Macri reached a 47.08 percent of the votes, taking a 20-point lead on Daniel Filmus, who obtained a 27.78 percent of the votes.

Since Macri didn’t manage to obtain over 50 percent of the votes, both him and Filmus will be running against each other in a second round on July 31st. 

The first official results were announced after 9 pm.

In the third place was Proyecto Sur’s candidate Fernando “Pino” Solanas with a 12.82 percent of the votes. He was followed by Civic Coalition candidate María Eugenia Estenssoro, who obtained a 3.32 percent and Radical candidate Silvana Giudici with a 2.06 percent.

The rest of the candidates took less than two percent of the vote, showing the existance of a large polarization between the Macri's ruling PRO party and the Kirchnerism.

Thus, the hopes of likes such as Jorge Todesca, who ran for Duhalde’s party; former referee Javier Castrilli (Acción Ciudadana bloc); ex Economy Minister Ricardo López Murphy (Partido Autonomista Party); Luis Zamora (Autodeterminación y Libertad party); Myriam Bregman (Frente Izquierda y los Trabajadores bloc); and Alejandro Biondini (Social Alternative party), crushed against the large machinery put into action by the two July 31 runoff contenders.

At the PRO party headquarters, located in the Costa Salguero complex, in the Palermo neighbourhood, people cheered and sang celebrating Macri's victory even before the official results had been announced. 

But what the Macri administration specially celebrated was the strong lead that Macri took on his main opponent, and that they had won the communal elections in every neighbourhood of the City.

“Today calls for a celebration,” said Macri’s running mate María Eugenia Vidal, while City Cabinet Chief, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, highlighted that “the population had strongly supported this election.” 

In other campaign headquarters, other political parties focused on the communal and legislative elections, hoping to at least grab a couple of seats.

If a party takes over 3 percent of the votes, it automatically clinch a legislative seat, and many parties currently seem likely to grab a few of them instead of renewing them like the PRO and Victory Front parties do. In the case of the Civic Coalition party, which is led by presidential hopeful Elisa Carrió, they lost a legislative seat.

Official sources confirmed that turnout was at 73 percent -out of 2,482,868 registered voters- in an election that served to pick mayor, 30 City lawmakers, and 105 communal heads. 

Fourteen candidates ran for mayor in these elections, while 60 seats in the Legislature were up for grabs. For the first time the City elected communal heads after having the City divided into 15 municipal areas.

Despite initial delays early in the morning due to the absence of several ballot station officials, the rest of the day went by without any major inconveniences. There were several complaints of a lack of ballots in certain polling stations, officials assured that all problems were solved immediately.