Argentina's First Lady, and presidential candidate, Senator Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, greets supporters in Buenos Aires last Friday. Cristina Fernandez is still the front-runner ahead of the October 28 election, according to last polls. - Reuters

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters):

First lady and senator Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner will easily win Argentina's October 28 presidential election, a poll showed yesterday.

Fernandez will take almost 46 per cent of the votes, more than 30 percentage points ahead of another centre-left candidate, former lawmaker Elisa Carrio, according to the survey by Argentine pollsters CEOP.

Fernandez was expected to follow the policies of her popular husband, President Nestor Kirchner, who has governed Argentina during four years of a vigorous economic rebound from a deep recession and a 2001-2 economic crisis.

The poll numbers coincided with other recent surveys showing that Fernandez was headed to a first-round victory.

Second round

Argentine presidential elections go to a second round unless the first-place candidate takes more than 45 per cent of the vote, or more than 40 per cent with a 10-point lead.

The poll put Roberto Lavagna, a former economy minister under Kirchner who has split with the government, in third place with 10.2 per cent of votes.

The poll was based on interviews with 2,931 adults across Argentina in the last week, and had a margin of error of 1.84 per cent.

CEOP said 12.4 per cent of voters are undecided, but that is not enough to change the outcome.

Carrio and Lavagna have both called on voters not to believe the polls, insisting they have enough support to force a second round with Fernandez.