Summary

It was an electoral earthquake foretold.

With most of the votes counted in Argentina’s presidential elections, Alberto Fernández has 48% to the incumbent Mauricio Macri’s 40%. The outgoing president has already conceded defeat and has pledged to work with the incoming administration in the lead-up to December.

The result marks an ignoble end for a leader once heralded as the country’s economic savior. And though markets can be expected to heap some gloom on the dawning of a new Fernández-Kirchner era, the deep and systemic erosion of Argentina’s fiscal and economic position will pose a daunting challenge for the new administration – one that leaves little room for any bold new policy initiatives out of the gates.