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Argentine ruling party presidential candidate leads rival - poll

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kichner (R) is greeted by supporters next to Buenos Aires Governor Daniel Scioli (L) after she arrived in Rosario city to attend National Flag Day in this handout photo by the Argentine Presidency taken on June 20, 2015. REUTERS/Argentine Presidency/Handout via Reuters

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - The candidate from the party of Argentina's outgoing President Cristina Fernandez has a lead over his more business-friendly rival with four months to go before the October election, according to a poll released on Tuesday. Buenos Aires Governor Daniel Scioli, of Fernandez's Front for Victory party, is favoured by 36.9 percent of voters while Mauricio Macri, the mayor of the capital city who favours more orthodox economic policies, has 31.6 percent, according to the poll by local consultancy Management & Fit. A poll released on Monday by Ricardo Rouvier & Associates said Scioli had 35.1 percent of the vote versus Macri's 26.9 percent. Fernandez, constitutionally barred from seeking a third term in October, has established trade and currency controls that have weighed down Latin America's No. 3 economy while government fiscal accounts have been eroded by high state spending. Fernandez, whose allies will seek to strengthen their control of Congress in the October general election, may run for president again in 2019. (Reporting by Walter Bianchi; Writing by Hugh Bronstein; Editing by Tom Brown)