Kicillof routs Vidal in Buenos Aires Province gubernatorial race
Former economy minister garners nearly half the entire votes in province, 49 percent, against the incumbent governor's 32 percent.
In what looks likely to be the biggest victory of Sunday night's explosive PASO primaries in Argentina, former economy minister Axel Kicillof delivered a strong showing against Buenos Aires Province Governor María Eugenia Vidal.
Kicillof, the Frente de Todos candidate for governor and a strong ally of former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, garnered nearly half of the entire votes in the nation's most-populous region.
With 82 percent of the vote registered, Kicillof had officially taken 49.17 percent of the vote, against 32 percent for Vidal, the Juntos por el Cambio candidate.
"It's a day of much happiness, full of emotion, because you all know it was a very unequal campaign," Kicillof told supporters at the Frente de Todos bunker. "Therefore, it touched us to tour through the province. What is important, what fills me full of proud and is the grand message that we have tonight, is that this campaign didn't spend millions, it didn't attack, it didn't acuse. It was a campaign that received a lot of help and everyone learned so much."
In the primaries of 2015, Vidal – who today polls as one of the nation's most-popular politician – won 29.95 percent of the vote. She later increased her performance in the October general election to 39.42 percent ,winning outright in the first round.
In third place, Eduardo “Bali” Bucca, Consenso Federal’s candidate for province governor, won only 5.18 percent of the vote.
"When we say that we learned it's because we listened to everyone," Kicillof said.
Speaking alongside Vidal at the Juntos por el Cambio bunker at Costa Salguero, President Mauricio Macri said to the voters of the province that “I hope in October you don’t lose her.”
- TIMES/PERFIL/NA