Given electoral trends across Latin America in recent years, the recent primary results in Argentina came as somewhat of a surprise. With former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner as his running mate, Alberto Fernández of the Peronist Justicialist Party (PJ) comfortably defeated the center-right incumbent Mauricio Macri. Mr. Fernández won 22 of 24 constituencies, gaining a total of 47 percent of the vote, compared to just 32 percent for Mr. Macri. General elections will now be held on October 27, and the indications are that the PJ will return to power.
The result is all the more surprising given that...