Dissatisfaction with the economic situation and the unfulfilled promises of the last government resonates among Argentines living in Madrid, who seek one thing above all: change. Javier Milei, Patricia Bullrich and Sergio Massa face off in the elections this Sunday to succeed current President Alberto Fernández in one of the most uncertain elections since the return to democracy 40 years ago. There is discontent, anger, but also hope among the Argentine expatriates who came to the voting center in Madrid on election day.
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Carmen Aguilera, 49, voted early in the morning at the Colegio Mayor Argentino, the place where voting was to take place. She is a housewife and has lived in Madrid for 13 years. They voted for Milei, the far-right outsider who burst into Argentine politics two years ago with an agenda based on reducing the state and challenging conquered rights such as abortion or the military dictatorship’s memorial and reparations agreements. . “He is the only one who can make a difference and the only hope we have. If he doesn’t win, we will be worse off than Venezuela,” he says. The economic situation in Argentina is one of the citizens’ greatest concerns and is exacerbated by uncontrolled hyperinflation and loss of purchasing power. “No one is perfect except within themselves [candidatos] “Whatever there is, he is the one who can move the country forward.”
Overseas voter turnout has increased exponentially over the years. 50,000 Argentines living abroad voted in the 2019 presidential election, five times more than those who voted in the 2015 election. The register has also grown: in Spain, the number of people called to vote increased by 20,000 within four years; in the world 70,000. Although Argentinians in Spain are a population group that has little impact on the overall results, representing only 1.5% of potential voters, they vote with conviction.
A few meters from the exit doors of the Colegio Mayor sits Lautaro Aguilar, a 21-year-old young man. He also voted for Milei. “I really like the way he wants to manage the economy,” he says. His voice mixes with the music coming from his speaker, rock in Spanish from the nineties. The leader of La Libertad Avanza has mainly conquered young men who, like Aguilar, appreciate his “way of thinking”. In the final polls before the election, Milei was at the top of voting intentions with up to 35.3%, well above Massa’s 30% or Bullrich’s 25.9%. If confirmed, this support would not be enough to win in the first round, which requires a 45% win or 40% if there is a margin of at least 10 points over the second.
Migration due to the crisis
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In Spain, more than 110,000 Argentines are called to vote, almost a quarter of the 451,200 who can exercise this right in 87 countries. The largest voting location is Barcelona with 47,044 voters, followed by Madrid (34,196) and Cadiz (11,780). The rest are in Tenerife, Vigo and Palma. Greta Frankenfeld, 48, traveled from Bilbao to vote in Madrid. “If I have to vote again in the second round, I will go back,” he says. He has been a Peronist for years and voted for Massa, economy minister and apprentice of former president Néstor Kirchner. He is the only left-wing candidate who has a real chance of competing with Milei in a likely second round. “I think that [Massa] It is the only viable option, any other option even seems dangerous for Argentina and the world,” he says. She speaks in a quiet voice and doubts whether she should say who she voted for: “Abroad, people tend to vote more right-wing.” “We are a minority.” In the 2019 elections, former President Mauricio Macri won with 75% of votes from foreign voters.
Among those who voted for Bullrich is José Leonardo García, 38 years old, who wears the Argentina national team jacket. “Of all the candidates, she is the most coherent and the one with the best model for the change we need for our country,” he emphasizes. He emigrated to Spain during the great economic crisis of the 1990s and is now a caretaker. For García, Milei is a “freak” who would “lead the country into the same crisis” that he fled. The Together for Change candidate was the safe choice to move to Casa Rosada six months ago, when Peronism was in a serious internal crisis. Now their voters hardly trust that it will go to the second round and that the votes against the extreme right will be uniform. According to the election authorities, the last polls before the election in 17 polling stations gave Bullrich entry into a possible second round, which is planned for November 19th, only twice.
Guillermo di Gregorio and his daughter Paula, 66 and 20 years old, voted for Bullrich. How do you justify your vote? “She is much more sensible than Milei. “My generation simply connected with him because they were tired of Peronism,” replies the young woman. They have been in Spain for 18 years and emigrated for economic reasons, as did the majority of people interviewed by this newspaper. The phenomenon is no coincidence. An April report from the Observatory of Applied Social Psychology at the University of Buenos Aires showed that five out of 10 residents of Argentina’s main urban centers would leave the country. Among young people between 18 and 29, the number rises to seven in ten. The main reasons for the migration are the “deterioration situation” in the country, insecurity, lack of employment opportunities and the economic crisis. For this last reason, Estela Mares, 66, emigrated to Spain two years ago. “It wasn’t easy leaving my roots and the country I love behind,” he said a few minutes after the vote. However, the general feeling stands out: “We are all in good spirits and sure that Argentina deserves a really profound change.”
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