TEHRAN, August 13 - Argentine President Mauricio Macri's conservative ruling party was shocked by the bruising defeat in the just-concluded primary elections while expressing the determination on Monday to seek a reverse.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - Taking note of the voters' discontent over Macri's government shown in the primary elections held on Sunday, Interior Minister Rogelio Frigerio said "the message from the polls was overwhelming" while congratulating "the winners of the primary elections" on Monday.
The ruling "Juntos por el Cambio" party, or Together for Change, will do all it can "to turn the election around" by October, according to him.
Official results showed that in the primary elections that featured 10 presidential candidates, Macri and his vice presidential running mate, Miguel Angel Pichetto, of the ruling party received just 32.08 percent of the votes, with 98.67 percent of the ballots counted, while Alberto Fernandez and his vice presidential running mate, ex-president and current Senator Cristina Fernandez, of the opposition party Frente de Todos -- Front of All -- garnered 47.65 percent.
The primary elections to select presidential candidates occurred two months ahead of the first round of the general elections scheduled for Oct. 27.
An outright election in the first round of the presidential vote demands at least 45 percent of the votes or 40 percent plus a greater than 10-point advantage over the closest rival. Otherwise, a presidential runoff will be introduced on Nov. 24.
Some "47 percent (of the electorate) sent us a very clear message that we have to acknowledge and understand, especially the middle class, which evidently didn't feel taken care of," Frigerio told reporters.
"The (result of the primary) election wasn't what we were expecting," he said.
Macri, who is running for reelection, has been ruling amid an economic recession that saw the South American country apply for the largest loan in the history of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the Argentine currency peso plummeted to a record lows.
More than 75 percent of Argentina's over 33,800,000 eligible voters turned out to vote on Sunday.
Source: Xinhua
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