Maximiliano Pullaro, candidate for Juntos por el Cambio (JxC)’s Santa Fe ally coalition Unidos para Cambiar Santa Fe, won the province’s elections on Sunday and will become governor in December. He beat Peronist contender Marcelo Lewandowski with 58% of the vote.

Lewandowski, who is currently a national deputy and ran for governor with ruling coalition Unión por la Patria’s (UxP) ally coalition Juntos Avancemos, had 31% of the vote with 99.7% of the vote counted.

Incumbent governor Omar Perotti, a Peronist aligned with UxP, was not eligible to run for re-election because the provincial constitution limits governors to one term. This defeat means the provincial opposition will take power on December 10.

Pullaro, currently a provincial deputy, promised to “work 24/7 so that the province’s issues find solutions.”

“We know about the anguish the people of Santa Fe had to endure, their pain, but we also know about their dreams, their hopes. Santa Fe is the best in the Argentine Republic,” Pullaro said on Sunday night.

JxC presidential candidate Patricia Bullrich, Buenos Aires City Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta — who competed with Bullrich in the national primaries — and JxC senator Martín Lousteau celebrated with Pullaro in the coalition’s headquarters as the results came in.

“This election buried Kirchnerism in Santa Fe,” Bullrich said at the coalition’s local headquarters.

Pullaro will be the first member of the Unión Cívica Radical (UCR) — the oldest active party in Argentina — to govern Santa Fe since democracy was restored in 1982. UCR is one of the member parties of the local coalition, along with PRO and a sector of socialism. Nationally, the UCR and PRO are two of the main parties in JxC. 

Lewandowski accepted the defeat on Sunday night and said his coalition will accompany the new provincial government “as a responsible opposition.”
The province also elected local deputies, senators and mayors, with an electoral register of 2.8 million voters.

-with information from Télam