Argentine President Wins Primary, Suggesting Easy Re-Election in October

The president of Argentina Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner soundly won in the country’s first unified primary election, with at least 45 percent of the vote, suggesting she could easily win in the first-round presidential election slated for October.

(She would need a 40 percent performance to avoid a second run-off, as long as she could maintain a 10 percent point lead over the second place finisher).

Fernandez far outperformed rivals, the former President Eduardo Duhalde and Ricardo Alfonsin, a senator with the radical Party, and the socialist provincial governor Hermes Binner.

Fernandez praised the primary election as "historic" and a "qualitative leap" for Argentina.

"We are building a political system that is more transparent, more plural, and in which the people can express their opinion,” she stated.

Fernandez’ husband, former president Nestor Kirchner, died last October, Some had speculated that he might have sought to succeed his wife as president.

Argentina’s robust economy and low debt has made Fernandez a generally popular leader.

However, the country’s farmers are outraged by her policies of raising taxes and restricting exports. Also, critics have repeatedly accused the government of underestimating the inflation rate/