Argentines elect opposition candidate Macri as president

Argentines on Sunday handed left-leaning President Cristina Fernandez a symbolic defeat by electing opposition leader Mauricio Macri in a historic runoff election.

With most of the votes counted, Macri had 53%, compared to 47% for rival Daniel Scioli, Fernandez's close ally and chosen successor, the BBC reported. Scioli conceded defeat late Sunday, telling supporters that he had called Macri to congratulate him, The Associated Press reported.

Macri's victory represents the first time in more than a decade that Argentina's center-right opposition has wrested the presidency from the center-left Peronists.

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Loud cheers erupted at Macri's campaign headquarters after television exit polls suggested he had won, BBC reported.

Macri, the mayor of Buenos Aires, Argentina's capital, campaigned on promises to reform and jumpstart Argentina's economy. He emerged as the front-runner in the race after an Oct. 25 first round of voting that forced a runoff against Scioli, governor of Buenos Aires province. In that round, Macri lost to Scioli, 36.7% to 34.5%. But neither candidate won outright, forcing Argentina's first-ever runoff.

Macri promised to lead with "21st century development," as opposed to "21st century socialism," a term used by supporters of the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his successor, Nicolas Maduro.

Macri, leader of the Cambiemos (Let's Change) coalition, is the son of one of Argentina's richest men.

Scioli, who had initially been expected to win by 10 or more points in last month's six-candidate election, has said a Macri victory would subject Argentina to the market-driven policies of the 1990s, a period of deregulation that many Argentines believe set the stage for the financial meltdown of 2001-2002.

"This government has helped a lot of people with the social welfare plans," Carlos Mercurio, a 55-year-old newsstand owner who voted for Scioli, told AP. "I'm afraid of what Macri might do."

The election comes at a time when Argentina's economy, Latin America's third largest, has stalled. Inflation is around 30%, gross domestic product growth is just above zero and many private economists warn that the Fernandez administration's spending is not sustainable.

Macri had promised to address the economic problems and to shake things up regionally. He said he would push to expel Venezuela from the South American trade bloc known as Mercosur because of the jailing of opposition leaders under Maduro. That would be a huge change for a continent where many countries, including neighbors Chile, Brazil and Bolivia, have left-leaning democratic governments that have maintained close ties with Venezuela.

Macri promised to lift unpopular controls on the buying of U.S. dollars and thus eliminate a booming black market for currency exchange. Doing that would likely lead to a sharp devaluation of the Argentine peso, AP reported.

With low foreign reserves, the government would desperately need an immediate infusion of dollars. Those could come from many different places, but ultimately would require structural changes to a largely protectionist economy, solving the debt spat and developing warmer relations with other nations, including the United States.

Election officials said 74% of registered voters, or about 24 million people, went to the polls. Voting in Argentina is obligatory, but there are exceptions for senior citizens and people who are traveling and can't get to a polling place, among others.

Contributing: The Associated Press. Follow Greg Toppo on Twitter: @gtoppo