Populist Javier Milei on Sunday resoundingly won Argentina’s presidential election, following a fiercely polarized campaign in which he promised a dramatic shake-up to the state to deal with soaring inflation and rising poverty.
With 99.4 percent of votes tallied in the presidential runoff, Milei had 55.7 percent and Argentine Minister of Economy Sergio Massa had 44.3 percent, the country’s electoral authority said.
It is the highest percentage that a presidential candidate has received since the South American country’s return to democracy in 1983.
Photo: AFP
In the streets of Buenos Aires, drivers honked their horns and many took to the streets to celebrate in several neighborhoods. Outside Milei’s party headquarters, a hotel in downtown Buenos Aires, supporters were singing, buying beers from vendors and setting off colored smoke bombs. They waved Argentine flags and the yellow Gadsden flag, emblazoned with the words: “Don’t Tread On Me,” which Milei’s movement adopted.
The self-described anarcho-capitalist, who has been compared to former US president Donald Trump, said in his victory speech that the “reconstruction of Argentina begins today.”
“Argentina’s situation is critical. The changes our country needs are drastic. There is no room for gradualism, no room for lukewarm measures,” Milei told supporters, who chanted: “Liberty, liberty” and “Let them all leave” in a reference to the country’s political class.
Massa of the ruling Peronist party, the Renewal Front, had already conceded defeat, saying Argentines “chose another path.”
“Starting tomorrow ... guaranteeing the political, social and economic functions is the responsibility of the new president. I hope he does,” Massa said.
With a Milei victory, the country would take an abrupt shift rightward, with a freshman lawmaker who got his start as a television talking head blasting what he called the “political caste” assuming the presidency.
Inflation has soared more than 140 percent and poverty has worsened while Massa has held his post.
Milei has said he would slash the size of the government, dollarize the economy and eliminate the central bank as a way to tackle galloping inflation that he blames on successive governments printing money indiscriminately to fund public spending.
He also espouses several conservative social policies, including an opposition to sex education in schools and abortion, which the Argentine Congress legalized in 2020.
“This is a triumph that is less due to Milei and his peculiarities and particularities, and more to the demand for change,” said Lucas Romero, the head of Synopsis, a local political consulting firm. “What is being expressed at the polls is the weariness, the fatigue, the protest vote of the majority of Argentines.”
Massa’s campaign cautioned Argentines that his libertarian opponent’s plan to eliminate key ministries and otherwise sharply curtail the state would threaten public services, including health and education, and welfare programs many rely on.
Massa also drew attention to his opponent’s often aggressive rhetoric and openly questioned his mental acuity. Ahead of the first round, Milei sometimes carried a revving chain saw at rallies.
“There were lot of voters that weren’t convinced to vote Milei, who would vote null or blank, but come the day of the vote, they voted for Milei because they’re all pissed off,” Andrei Roman, CEO of Brazil-based pollster Atlas Intel, said by telephone. “Everyone talked about the fear of Milei winning. I think this was a fear of Massa winning and economy continuing the way it is, inflation and all that.”
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