Buenos Aires

When Argentines go to the polls on Oct. 25 to choose a new president, it will be the first time in more than 12 years that the Kirchner name does not appear on the ballot. That fact is generating cautious optimism here—even in the midst of a recession, capital flight, double-digit inflation and gathering economic storms in the country’s two big export markets, Brazil and China, that threaten to unleash even more hardship.

It’s...