Buenos Aires (CNN) -- President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner handily won Argentina's presidential primary, garnering more than half the country's votes.
The decisive win in Sunday's vote indicates that she will likely easily be re-elected for four more years in October.
With 96% of the ballots tallied Monday, Fernandez, a center-left member of the Peronist party, had 50.07% of the votes, the Interior Ministry reported.
"Fundamentally, I believe it is a recognition of the administration's work," a beaming Fernandez told reporters Monday.
Ricardo Alfonsin, a member of the opposition Radical Civic Union Party, garnered 12.17% followed closely by Eduardo Duhalde, a conservative Peronist and former president, with 12.16% of the votes.
The three will face off against four other candidates in the presidential election on October 23. Candidates who received at least 1.5% of the overall vote on Sunday are eligible to be on the October ballot.
Alfonsin told supporters Sunday that the primary vote was preliminary, and his campaign was just beginning.
"We are going to multiply our efforts ... The race starts tomorrow," he said.
Taking the stage in front of a vocal crowd at a Buenos Aires hotel Sunday night, Fernandez thanked all Argentinians for casting their votes.
"We have all contributed to increasing democracy today," she said. "Today, Argentina is a freer and more open country than any time since democracy returned in 1983."
Fernandez, 58, and her daughter, Florencia, 21, held back tears onstage as they remembered Nestor Kirchner, Fernandez's husband and presidential predecessor, who died from a heart attack in October 2010 at age 60. As supporters chanted songs in his memory, Fernandez vowed to keep his vision alive during her next administration.
"I want to honor him because what happened today is because of him, for so many reasons. He is looking down at us from somewhere," she said.
Voting was obligatory on Sunday and about 28 million people were eligible to vote, however, Interior Ministry statistics showed that nationwide participation was just over 77%.
Sunday's primary was viewed as a litmus test of Fernandez's popularity and a strong indication as to whether she will win re-election outright in October or face a runoff election on November 20.
Analysts said that if she was able to garner 45% of the vote in Sunday's primary she would be hard to beat in October.
"Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's victory in the primary demonstrates that Argentine society values her and that many feel that the best thing is for her to continue for four more years," political analyst Ignacio Labaqui told CNN.
Argentinians braved long lines and cold weather as they went to the polls Sunday to choose from 10 presidential candidates.
Fernandez voted in her home city of Rio Gallegos, in the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz, where temperatures were below zero.
Polls showed that while Fernandez's overall popularity has waned, she remains the front-runner.
"This primary not only serves the government so it can define its position, but it also serves the opposition, so they can do some fine-tuning to their strategies and create possible alliances," pollster Graciela Romer told CNN en Espaņol before the vote.
Fernandez needs 45%, or at least 40% and a 10-point lead, over her nearest rival to win outright in October.
Alfonsin voted in the town of Chascomus in the province of Buenos Aires, where some 40% of national voters live. The son of late President Raul Alfonsin, he is seen as short on significant political experience.
Duhalde, who ruled Argentina from 2002 to 2003, immediately following the country's economic collapse in which it defaulted on $95 billion dollars in debt, voted in the city of Lomas de Zamora, in Buenos Aires province. He posed for cameras as he placed his sealed ballot in the box.
"I am happy to have been able to come and cast my vote in this important primary. I hope a lot of people vote today because that is what we need in a democracy," Duhalde told reporters.
In her speech on Sunday night, Fernandez pointed to strong economic growth and human rights advances as the keys to her past and future mandates.
"Strength Argentina! Forward Argentina! We will continue growing, with social inclusion, with justice, memory and truth," she said.
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