Macri topples Argentina’s Peronists, tough reforms ahead

Reuters: Conservative challenger Mauricio Macri turned Argentine politics on its head on Sunday, kicking the ruling Peronist movement out of power with a promise to liberalise the ailing economy and end a culture of divisive politics.

Macri, the son of an Italian-born construction magnate, won the election by tapping into frustration over anemic growth, high inflation and corruption, and will become only the third non-Peronist leader since the end of military rule in 1983.

The other two failed to finish their terms, however, a reminder of the difficulties that Peronist labour unions, state governors and opponents in Congress could cause Macri if he is unable to get the economy growing quickly.

Mauricio Macri, Presidential candidate of the Cambiemos (Let’s Change) coalition, his wife Juliana Awada and their daughter Antonia gesture to their supporters after the presidential election in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Conservative opposition candidate Macri comfortably won Argentina’s presidential election on Sunday after promising business-friendly reforms to spur investment in the struggling economy. REUTERS

After an unpredictable campaign that pitted poorer Argentines grateful for generous welfare programs against others exasperated with state shackles on the economy, Macri will need to deliver on pro-business reforms without hurting the poor.

“We’ve been saying from Tierra del Fuego in the south to Jujuy in the north that we have to build an Argentina with zero poverty, and that’s what we’re going to do together,” Macri told his jubilant supporters on Sunday night.

He defeated leftist ruling party candidate Daniel Scioli as voters punished outgoing President Cristina Fernandez for her handling of the economy and her abrasive style of leadership.

Macri, 56, faces a number of economic challenges. Slow growth is driven by unsustainable spending, inflation is at well above 20 percent and capital controls have backfired to leave foreign reserves at nine-year lows.

The country is also mired in a messy debt default that is blocking access to global credit markets.

Macri, who served two terms as mayor of Buenos Aires, has promised to dismantle a web of currency controls and trade restrictions that have deterred investors and hobbled growth.