After a dozen years of “Kirchnerism,” Argentines are heading to the polls to elect a new leader.

As previously reported, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has already served the two consecutive terms allowed by Argentina’s constitution and cannot run again until 2019. Kirchner’s political tenure was preceded by her late husband President Néstor Kirchner.

The 12 years of power shared by her and her late husband have been typified as a time of left wing social programs and policies.

Predictions

The way the polls are going, Daniel Scioli, Kirchner’s handpicked choice for her successor, will likely be the new Argentine leader and go on to continue the leftist polices initiated by her administration.

As Reuters reports, Scioli, a member of the ruling Front for Victory party, is ahead of his rivals, Mauricio Macri, a center-to-right leaning mayor of Buenos Aires, and Sergio Massa, a onetime alley in the Kirchner camp.

In order to win the first round of voting Scioli will need 45 percent of the vote or a minimum of 40 percent as well as a 10-point lead over the closest rival. Failing this, there will be a run-off election on Nov 22.

Economically Argentina is in a vulnerable place right now, with a rate of inflation estimated at 25 percent.

Monetary woes aside, Kirchner leaves a government that has been rocked by controversy.

In January, a federal attorney who had accused the president of trying to interfere with an investigation into the 1994 attack on a Jewish organization that resulted in the deaths of 85 people, Alberto Nisman, was found shot dead in his home this year.

Whoever comes to power after Sunday’s election will be under intense scrutiny. As quoted in the BBC, Pablo Knopoff, a political analyst, said, "The world is going to watch the new president's first 24 hours very carefully," adding that the new leader will “have to deliver a message to convince people that Argentina is a country where they can invest, with clear rules."