Primary win boosts chances of Argentina's Fernandez

BUENOS AIRES: Center-left Argentine President Cristina Fernandez is on course to win a second term in October and deepen her interventionist policies after thrashing rivals in a primary election, results showed on Monday.

Fernandez had 50 percent of votes in the primary with just over half of the ballots counted -- nearly 38 points ahead of the next closest contender, centrist opposition congressman Ricardo Alfonsin, the government election authority said.

Sunday's primary was effectively a nationwide opinion poll because parties had already chosen their candidates and voters could cast ballots for any party's candidate.

The results showed Fernandez has no real competitor in the Oct. 23 election and is on track for a first round win.

But she faces major challenges, including taming inflation estimated at over 25 percent without hurting growth and cutting spending in the major grains producer, and finding a way to repay debt without draining central bank reserves.

"I voted for Cristina because I see my children's progress. They all have jobs, homes, cars. We used to travel by donkey," said Aida Peralta, 81, as she celebrated to the sound of drumming outside the president's campaign headquarters.

Cheering supporters waved flags and images of her late husband and presidential predecessor, Nestor Kirchner. Some held aloft images of Argentine-born revolutionary icon Ernesto "Che" Guevara.

Financial markets have already priced in a second four-year term for Fernandez but some investors hoped a strong opposition contender would emerge and spark a bond and stock rally.

Her two main opponents, Alfonsin and former President Eduardo Duhalde, a dissident from her own Peronist party, fared worse than expected, polling only around 12 percent each. The law prohibits them from forming an alliance.

Fernandez, 58, has rankled Wall Street by imposing price controls, raiding central bank reserves and publishing inflation data far below private estimates.

She has also enraged farmers and grain exporters with corn and wheat export curbs and policies that strengthen the hand of the state in Latin America's third-largest economy.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011

Copyright Reuters, 2011