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.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
RSS