Santa Fe province, the third-largest in Argentina, will have general elections on Sunday to choose its next governor. The main contenders to succeed current Governor Omar Perotti are Senator Marcelo Lewandowski from the ruling Peronist party and Maximiliano Pullaro from the opposing coalition Juntos por el Cambio (JxC).

Santa Fe voters will also elect new legislators — 19 departmental senators and 50 deputy seats are in play —, 46 mayors, including Santa Fe city and Rosario, 217 councilmen and more than 1,600 municipality positions.

Unidos para Cambiar Santa Fe, JxC’s ally coalition in Santa Fe, won 63% of the vote in the provincial primaries held on July 16. The PASO results left four tickets that will compete in Sunday’s elections: Lewandowski and Silvina Frana for Juntos Avancemos; Pullaro and Gisela Scaglia for Unidos para Cambiar Santa Fe; Edelvino Bodoira and Nora Sánchez for Viva la Libertad; and Carla Deiana and Mauricio Acosta for the Frente de Izquierda y los Trabajadores. 

Although favored to win, JxC has been affected by severe infighting since the PASO. Carolina Losada, who lost to Pullaro in the primaries, accused him of having ties to a police officer convicted for drug dealing and did not participate in any electoral events after her defeat. 

Given that the provincial constitution does not allow reelection, Perotti is running for provincial deputy, a move that past governors Antonio Bonfatti and Miguel Lifschitz also made. Perotti looks to be the most-voted candidate in his race, an outcome that could be key since the provincial Constitution stipulates that the most-voted party gets 28 out of 50 seats, a decisive factor for public policies.

The Rosario mayoral race will also be closely watched. One of the main cities in the province, Rosario has faced growing violence in recent years. The city is the main exit channel for Argentine exports and has become an important port for drug trafficking routes. Gangs have spread throughout the city, leading to a rise in crime and killings.

The only candidates in Rosario are current mayor Pablo Javkin, from Unidos para Cambiar Santa Fe, and Juan Monteverde, from Juntos Avancemos, a coalition that includes Peronism. Monteverde belongs to the Ciudad Futura, a left-wing municipal party that proposes “a fearless city.”

— With information from Télam