Argentina's Scioli, a sportsman and survivor so far

Argentine presidential hopeful Daniel Scioli is a former powerboating champion, a sports fanatic, a skilled politician and above all a survivor -- at least, he has been so far.

The Buenos Aires governor survived a 1989 powerboat accident that cost him his right arm and years of internecine political clashes.

But now he faces his toughest battle yet.

After spending most of this year's presidential campaign as the front-runner, Scioli is now the underdog as Argentina heads to the polls Sunday for a run-off election pitting him against conservative rival Mauricio Macri.

Scioli was left reeling by the first-round election on October 25, when his three-percentage-point victory over Macri -- a far smaller margin than expected -- was perceived as a virtual defeat.

With the momentum in his favor, Macri leaped to a lead in the polls.

But Scioli has fought back with the same tenacity that has marked his career.
Scioli, 58, got into politics 25 years ago, after a horrific accident cut short his career as a successful powerboat racer.n eight-time world champion in the sport, he was racing across Argentina's Parana River when his boat flipped over and a propeller shredded his arm, which had to be amputated.

Starting over, he received a prosthetic limb, trained himself to function left-handed and launched a political career, winning election to Congress in 1997.

He was named minister of sport and tourism in 2002, then became vice president under Nestor Kirchner (2003-2007), the predecessor and late husband of outgoing President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

He has vowed to fight back from his latest setback with the same determination.

"I'm going to adapt, just like I adapted after that terrible accident. I got the message on October 25," he said.

Known for his conciliatory political style, the center-left candidate has taken the gloves off since his disappointing first-round showing.
A man of few words and limited charisma, he ran a laid-back, affable campaign for most of the race, but has gone on the offensive in the final stretch.

He attacked Macri in their lone presidential debate last week, calling his pro-business, free-market policies "a danger to the country."

He has also notably pushed aside his most prominent backer, Kirchner, whose management of the flagging economy has become increasingly heavy baggage.

The president has barely appeared on the political scene since the first-round vote.

"He managed to cut the umbilical cord. The real Scioli appeared," said political analyst Analia del Franco.

- Love of speed -
Scioli grew up in Buenos Aires in a well-to-do family that owned a chain of appliance stores, Casa Scioli.

He attended university at a business school in the capital -- earning a long-delayed marketing degree just last month, in the middle of the campaign.

He proved himself a survivor with a slow but steady political rise in which he weathered sometimes brutal infighting among the "Peronists," the powerful political movement of former president Juan Domingo Peron.

He managed to maintain close relationships with former presidents Carlos Menem (1989-1999), Eduardo Duhalde (2002-2003) and Nestor Kirchner, even though the three were all enemies.

Scioli rose slowly but surely through the political ranks to become vice president and then governor of the country's most powerful province.

Despite his injury, he still loves zipping across the River Plate between Argentina and Uruguay in a powerboat, and is known for leaving his guests clinging on for dear life.

He also plays first-division futsal -- a fast, five-a-side variety of football -- with a team in his upscale Buenos Aires neighborhood.

He downplays his prosthetic arm by doing things like knotting his tie one-handed on national TV.

His partner of 14 years, former model Karina Rabolini, is also his ex-wife: they married in 1985, divorced in 1998, then got back together again.

He has a daughter from another relationship, Lorena, whom he recognized only after losing a paternity suit in 1993, when she was 15.

She is now his staunch supporter and works for his campaign, crisscrossing the country to speak at rallies.

She made him a grandfather in 2013.
Source: AFP