BUENOS AIRES: Argentines started voting Sunday in a runoff election in which pro-business right-winger Mauricio Macri will try to end 12 years of left-wing government by beating center-leftist Daniel Scioli.
Queues formed at polling stations which opened at 8:00 am (1100 GMT) under sunny blue skies in the capital Buenos Aires, a key electoral territory. Voting was due to close at 2100 GMT with first results expected in the following hours.
Polls showed the mayor of Buenos Aires, former Boca Juniors football executive Macri, 56, could force a sharp realignment by beating Scioli, 58, an ex-power boating champion and ally of outgoing president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
Polls in Argentina have proved unreliable in forecasting results in the past however. They also indicated there were millions of undecided voters.
If Macri breaks the grip of Peronism, the broad populist movement that has dominated Argentine politics for a century, he could become Argentina's most economically liberal leader since the 1990s.
Macri surprised pollsters in the first round vote by finishing just three points behind his rival, with 34.1 percent of the vote to Scioli's 37 percent. The narrow result forced a run-off vote.
Macri has proposed to lift restrictions on imports and on US dollars -- though analysts say he may struggle to push reforms through a hostile Congress.
Scioli has vowed to defend Argentines' welfare payments, salaries and industry.
Whichever man wins now will have to tackle soaring inflation, currently estimated at more than 20 percent.
He will also face a dispute with so-called "holdout" creditors who have sued Argentina in the US courts for unpaid debts.
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