Jorge Macri (Juntos por el Cambio, JxC) will become the new mayor of Buenos Aires City after Leandro Santoro (Unión por la Patria, UxP) announced on Tuesday that he will drop out of the run-off set for November 19.
According to Sunday’s provisional tally, Macri got 49.6% of the vote, just shy of the 50% required to become BA City mayor. Santoro came in second with 32.2%, which led to the planned run-off. The definitive vote count is currently underway.
“Our records show that Macri’s result will be only a few votes away from reaching the threshold required by the city’s constitution to become mayor,” Santoro said in a statement signed by his running mate, Barbara Rossen, and other UxP candidates. “A realistic assessment of these electoral results […] lead us to believe that it would be unwise to force a run-off.”