ARGENTINIAN President Mauricio Macri is likely to lose October’s elections, polls at the weekend suggested, in what would be a major blow to imperialism in Latin America.

Mr Macri, whose campaign has been bankrolled by financiers, millionaires and private companies, looks set to lose out to a coalition including former president Cristina Kirchner.

She is the vice-presidential candidate of the Justicialist Party, whose presidential contender is Alberto Fernandez. The pair have a 5 per cent lead over Mr Macri, according to “practically all the main opinion companies.”

“The difference ranges from four to five points in surveys conducted by phone. However, the difference is greater in surveys conducted in person,” reported Buenos Aires tabloid Pagina 12.

With just eight days to go before primary elections, the pair are credited with a greater lead by Spanish company Celag, the only organisation that conducts face-to-face surveys.

It has Mr Fernandez gaining 42.5 per cent of preferences, with Mr Macri attracting just 33.5 per cent of the vote.

Pagina 12, which has Peronist sympathies, argues that the Celag poll is particularly significant, since many poorer Argentinians are unable to take part in telephone surveys.

Defeat for Mr Macri would be a blow for the financial institutions and corporations which have bankrolled his campaign. 

Mr Fernandez has accused Mr Macri of being “owned” by the IMF. The president has massively increased his personal wealth while overseeing IMF-imposed public spending cuts and austerity.

Argentina has an inflation rate of 55 per cent, compared with just 2.3 per cent in neighbouring Bolivia under Evo Morales.

In just one year, 2017, Mr Macri increased his personal assets by 50 per cent, declaring a patrimony of 99 million pesos (US$2.2 million).

“As the old saying goes, you have to slap a pig to know who the owner is,” Mr Fernandez said. “I criticise Macri and it’s the IMF that answers.”