The Americas | Primary problems

A stunning reversal for Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri

The opposition sweep up in primary elections, and look set to repeat the trick in national polls in October

|BUENOS AIRES

FOR MERCEDES, a shop assistant in the centre of Buenos Aires, the decision took itself. “We voted last time for the president because we wanted a better life, especially for our children. But life was worse under him. We worked more to have less.”

Mercedes was speaking the morning after voters delivered a thumbs-down to Mauricio Macri, Argentina’s president, in the country’s primary elections. The opposition, led by a veteran Peronist, Alberto Fernández, with the country’s last president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (no relation) as his running mate, won 47% of the votes cast. Mr Macri’s coalition won 32%.

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