Argentine Minister of Economy Sergio Massa and anti-establishment outsider Javier Milei are to face off in a runoff presidential poll, a battle between two wildly different versions of the country, election results showed on Sunday.
Latin America’s third-largest economy is creaking under triple-digit inflation after decades of recurrent fiscal crises marked by debt, financial mismanagement and a volatile currency.
The charismatic Massa, representing the ruling center-left Peronist coalition, overcame expectations to come first with 36.6 percent of votes, with more than 97 percent of ballots counted, despite overseeing record annual inflation and poverty levels.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“Our country is in a complicated situation ... nevertheless you believed we were the best tool to build a new step in Argentina’s history,” Massa told his cheering supporters in Buenos Aires.
If elected, Massa promised to lead a government of national unity, a first for Argentina, and launched an appeal to “all those who share our democratic values.”
“I am not going to fail you,” he said.
Photo: AFP
The libertarian Milei, leader of the La Libertad Avanza party, who brought a powered-up chainsaw to rallies vowing to slash public spending and dollarize the economy, scored 30 percent of the vote.
The rock-singing, TikTok-savvy outsider came from nowhere to put up a fierce challenge to traditional political parties, touching a nerve with Argentines fed-up with economic shambles.
“Today is a historic day because two-thirds voted for change. All of us who want change have to work together. We can win, take back our country, prevent our kids from leaving the country,” Milei said.
The two will compete in a Nov. 19 runoff election, with the winner to take office on Dec.10.
In his victory speech Massa sought to present himself as the calmer, steadier hand, as opposed to Milei, who surged to prominence with his angry diatribes against the “thieving and useless political class” and dire state of the country’s economy.
“I am convinced that this is not a shit country. It is a great country and we are going to give it the place that it deserves,” Massa said.
During the campaign, Massa took pains to highlight what his opposition’s plans to cut hefty electricity and public transport subsidies would mean for people’s pockets.
To woo voters, he went on a pre-election spending spree, slashing income tax for much of the population in a move analysts said would only make the country’s fragile financial situation worse.
Milei, a libertarian economist, blindsided pollsters when he surged to the front of the election race, winning an August primary with 30 percent of votes.
He kept the same amount of votes in the first-round election.
While some are keen for a radical shift, “a lot of Argentines have a lot to lose from the dismantling of the social welfare state,” which supports millions, said Benjamin Gedan, director of the Argentina Project at the Washington-based Wilson Center.
“If Milei is at rallies wielding a chainsaw, well, at the other end of that chainsaw is people’s quality of life,” Gedan said.
With more than 8 million votes up for grabs that went to third-placed former Argentine minister of security Patricia Bullrich and two other candidates, he said Massa faces a stiff battle against the upstart Milei.
“I think a simple reading of this first-round result is that many more Argentines want to throw Peronists out of power than the number who would like to see them remain,” Gedan said.
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