Far-right populist Javier Milei has won the most votes in Sunday’s primaries aimed at choosing presidential candidates for October’s general election in Argentina, a country beset by economic problems.
Milei, an admirer of former US President Donald Trump, thinks the Central Bank of Argentina should be abolished, thinks climate change is a lie, characterizes sex education as a ploy to destroy the family, thinks the sale of human organs should be legal are and wants to make owning firearms easier.
As the votes were counted at the end of the day on Sunday, analysts agree that the up-and-coming candidate, who rose to prominence for an outrage against the “political caste”, is a genuine candidate for the country’s presidency.
With about 92% of the polling stations counted, Milei won about 30% of the total votes, according to the official results. Candidates from the main opposition coalition, Together for Change, got 28% and the current governing coalition, União pela Pátria, got 27%.
While celebrating at the polling station, Milei pledged to “end the parasitic, corrupt and useless political caste” in the country.
“Today we have taken the first step towards rebuilding Argentina,” he said. “Another Argentina is impossible with the same people as always,” he added.
Ahead of the election, analysts had warned that a better-than-expected result for Milei, 52, was likely to disrupt financial markets and lead to a sharp fall in the value of the Argentine peso, largely due to uncertainty about economic policies that it could take. if he became president.
While Sunday’s vote was officially designed to pick candidates for different political blocs, it was also seen as a nationwide poll of candidates’ position against Argentines ahead of October’s election.
Milei, a deputy in the lower house of the Argentine Congress since 2021, had no rival in the presidential primaries of his Freedom Advance party.
Discontent is widespread in Argentina, which struggles with an annual inflation rate of more than 100%, growing poverty and a rapidly devaluing currency. Milei gained support by calling for the peso to be replaced by the US dollar.
In the main opposition coalition, Together for Change, voters also seemed willing to move further to the right, as former Security Secretary Patricia Bullrich easily defeated a more centrist candidate, Buenos Aires Mayor Horacio Rodriguez Larreta.
The governing coalition, União pela Pátria, was defeated by voters in the economic crisis and finished third in total votes. As expected, Economy Minister Sergio Massa became the coalition’s presidential candidate, easily defeating leftist Juan Grabois.
“We have 60 days to reverse this election,” Massa told his supporters.
The Milei result suggests that many voters are sending the message that they are tired of the two coalitions that have dominated Argentina’s political landscape for years.
The results “reflect the fatigue of those in political leadership and the lack of solutions within the spaces that have held successive powers,” said Mariel Fornoni, director of Management and Fit, a political consultancy.
Source: DN
