A new Buenos Aires mayor might hold the key to the country's political future.

Gabriela Perdomo - It is getting old. Néstor Kirchner teasing the electorate over who will be running for president in October's election. Will it be him? Or will it be the current first lady and lawmaker, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner? All of a sudden, the game is not fun anymore. Kirchner's peronist left-wing Front for Victory (FV) just found itself a strong opponent for the upcoming ballot, and the party will have to nominate their candidate soon.

Mauricio Macri, of the opposition center-right Commitment for Change (CC), was elected to become Buenos Aires' mayor on Jun. 24 with 61 per cent of the vote. Macri, a business tycoon and owner of Argentina's soccer team Boca Juniors, defeated a minister of Kirchner's government, Daniel Filmus, in a run-off vote. Macri is now thinking of endorsing his own candidate for the presidency. Although Argentina's presidential elections are generally not decided by the capital's inclinations, Macri's victory has been interpreted by many as a sign that the opposition is not to be underestimated any more.

Close to the end of his term, Kirchner still enjoys a great deal of popularity. The most recent poll by Poliarquía Consultores shows the president is backed by 67 per cent of respondents. Kirchner's main strength is without a doubt bringing the country's economy to a solid performance after a major crisis in 2002. In four years in office, the head of state has overseen an annual economic growth of about 8.0 per cent, and the estimates look no different for this year. Overall, other surveys suggest Argentineans seem content with the way the president has led the country so far. But one thing is the presidency and another one the election.

The next ballot is scheduled to take place on Oct. 28. Kirchner is constitutionally allowed to seek re-election, but he has refrained to announce or deny whether he will be doing so or will instead endorse his wife Cristina, a powerful senator representing Buenos Aires. According to a recent poll by Analogías, both of them have a good chance to win, although the president holds a higher level of support. This is in part because voters seem to be fond of the Kirchner brand, and in part because the opposition parties have melted before the public's eyes in recent years. At least this is what the Kirchners were counting on. Macri's win in Buenos Aires, as well as the victory for Fabiana Ríos of the Alliance Affirmation for an Egalitarian Republic (ARI) against Kirchner protégé Hugo Cóccaro in Tierra del Fuego that same day, put that theory to test.

In his victory speech, Macri was clear about the significance of his leadership in a grand scale. "Today the vote for change won. We're going to construct an alternative to the official party. There will be no more blaming the past''we're here to build the future,'' he said.

It is now apparent that Macri will endorse Ricardo López Murphy of Recreate (Recrear), a former presidential rival of Kirchner, in this year's election. If the opposition seemed disorganized and irrelevant until now, it is not so any more. Macri put a lot of thought in his campaign for mayor. He focused on crime, a visible issue in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area that could become a national electoral topic, shifting the debate away from the economy.

Macri will take office in December, so he will not have to show results of his proposed policies before the presidential ballot takes place, but only showcase the inefficiencies of the national government in handling the national police force in the country's capital.

López Murphy is doing poorly in the polls so far. In fact, chances are Macri's victory will not mean as much as some analysts predict. But if it is not enough to take power from the Kirchners in October, at least it is to guarantee a second term in office will be more difficult than the first.

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