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Former Argentine president to become senator

Citizen's Unity Party led by Kirchner is second, securing as many as 35.86% of the vote, which will provide the party with one seat in the upper house of the country’s parliament.
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner AP Photo/Agustin Marcarian
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner
© AP Photo/Agustin Marcarian

BUENOS AIRES, October 23. /TASS/. Former Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner will have a seat in the country’s senate, as the preliminary results published on the Election Commission’s website show. The former president made a bid for a senate seat in the province of Buenos Aires.

According to the preliminary results, the ruling Cambiemos (or Let’s Change) coalition receives 42.92% in the province, while the Citizen's Unity Party led by Kirchner is second, securing as many as 35.86% of the vote, which will provide the party with one seat in the upper house of the country’s parliament. If elected senator, Fernandez de Kirchner will have parliamentary immunity, while three cases concerning corruption in the country’s central bank have been launched against her. In addition, the Prosecutor General’s Office also suspects her of impeding the investigation into a terrorist attack on a Jewish cultural center in 1994.

The voting’s preliminary results also show that candidates supporting Argentina’s government have a lead in the parliamentary election in the city of Buenos Aires and the largest regions of the country. Candidates representing the ruling coalition and other pro-government alliances are expected to win in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Santa Fe and Mendoza. At the same time, President Mauricio Marci’s senate lists are getting the most votes in five out of eight regions where senate election was held.

The vote is aimed at electing 127 members of the 257-seat Chamber of Deputies (the lower house of parliament) and 24 out of 72 senators. Despite their possible victory, pro-government candidates will not be able to secure an absolute majority in the parliament.