LIMA (Reuters) – Left-wing Ollanta Humala won the first round of Peru’s presidential election on Sunday and looks set to face right-wing congresswoman Keiko Fujimori in a bruising June 5 run-off, quick counts and exit polls showed.

There is still a slim chance Humala could face former finance minister Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in the run-off, as election officials say it could take days to count all votes in the tight race for second place.

BUENOS AIRES, April 4 (Reuters) – Argentine President
Cristina Fernandez has a hefty poll lead as October’s
presidential election draws closer, but simmering power
struggles among her allies may help a splintered field of
rivals gain traction.

As Latin America’s No. 3 economy booms, Fernandez’s
approval ratings are steady at about 50 percent while opponents
scramble to forge electoral pacts strong enough to mount a
convincing challenge. [ID:nN17108645]

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentina’s splintered political opposition should join forces to fight President Cristina Fernandez in October’s election, center-right presidential contender Mauricio Macri said on Friday.

Fernandez is keeping voters guessing about whether she will seek a second term, but her strong poll lead is raising expectations she will run for re-election as rivals scramble to forge alliances strong enough to mount a convincing challenge.

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentina must impose an inflation-targeting regime to tame surging prices and should let the International Monetary Fund review its economy, opposition presidential candidate Ricardo Alfonsin said on Thursday.

Congressman Alfonsin, a center-left member of the social democratic Radical party (UCR), lags a distant second in most opinion polls behind President Cristina Fernandez seven months ahead of a presidential election.

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Brazil is on the way to becoming Google Inc’s sixth-largest global market, Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said on Friday as the company opens new offices in the fast-growing Latin American region.

The world’s No. 1 Internet search company saw its revenue in the region surge last year on the back of brisk economic growth, with countries showing growth of 50 percent to 100 percent last year.

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Brazil is on the way to becoming Google Inc’s sixth-largest global market, Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said on Friday as the company opens new offices in the fast-growing Latin American region.

The world’s No. 1 Internet search company saw its revenue in the region surge last year on the back of brisk economic growth, with countries showing growth of 50 percent to 100 percent last year.

BUENOS AIRES, March 2 (Reuters) – Simmering political
tensions could ruffle Argentine financial markets over the
coming months as President Cristina Fernandez and her rivals
lock horns ahead of October’s presidential election.

As Latin America’s No. 3 economy booms, the center-leftist
Fernandez leads polls and is widely expected to seek
re-election following the death last year of her powerful
husband and predecessor as president, Nestor Kirchner.

BUENOS AIRES, Feb 1 (Reuters) – Simmering political
tensions could worsen over the coming months as Argentine
President Cristina Fernandez and her rivals lock horns ahead of
the presidential election in October.

As Latin America’s No. 3 economy booms, the leftist
Fernandez leads polls and is widely expected to seek
re-election following the death last year of her powerful
husband and predecessor as president, Nestor Kirchner.

BUENOS AIRES, Jan 24 (Reuters) – Argentina hopes to agree a
debt repayment plan with the Paris Club of nations by June,
Economy Minister Amado Boudou said on Monday, pushing back an
earlier target for a deal.

Officials from Argentina and the Paris Club are working on
a deal for the South American nation to repay more than $6
billion in defaulted debt to the creditor nations, one of the
last vestiges of Argentina’s 2001-02 economic crisis.

BUENOS AIRES, Jan 17 (Reuters) – Argentine farmers halted sales of wheat,
corn and soy on Monday as they went on strike over export curbs, rekindling a
dispute that helped drive global grains prices to record highs three years ago.

The seven-day protest by growers in the South American nation, one of the
world’s biggest food providers, could fuel supply concerns just as dry weather
linked to the La Nina weather pattern worsens the outlook for soy and corn
output.