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Argentina's Center-Left Peronists Celebrate Return to Power

Associated Press

   BUENOS AIRES - Argentina's Peronists on Monday celebrated their return
   to power after conservative incumbent President Mauricio Macri conceded
   defeat in a dramatic election that swung the country back to the
   center-left, saw the return of a divisive former president and
   threatened to rattle financial markets.

   As investors nervously eyed Monday's market opening, thousands of
   jubilant supporters of Alberto Fernandez and his vice presidential
   running mate, ex-President Cristina Fernandez, waved sky-blue and white
   Argentine flags and chanted "We're coming back! We're coming back!"

   "Today, Alberto is the president of all Argentines," Cristina Fernandez
   told supporters, some of whom brandished tattoos with her image and the
   image of her late husband and predecessor as president, Nestor
   Kirchner.

   Electoral authorities said Alberto Fernandez had 48.1% of the votes
   compared to 40.4% for Macri, with almost 97% percent of the votes
   counted. He needed a poll-topping 45% of the vote to avoid a runoff.

   The election was dominated by the country's economic woes and rising
   poverty, with voters rejecting austerity measures that Macri insisted
   were needed.

   "The only thing that concerns us is that Argentines stop suffering once
   and for all," Alberto Fernandez told the crowd.

   The 60-year-old lawyer said he would need the support of Macri's
   administration to reconstruct what he called the inherited "ashes" of
   Argentina.

   Earlier in the evening, Macri told disappointed supporters that he had
   called Alberto Fernandez to congratulate him and invited him for a
   breakfast chat Monday at the presidential palace.

   "We need an orderly transition that will bring tranquility to all
   Argentines, because the most important thing is the well-being of all
   Argentines," Macri said.

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