FROM OUR REPORTER
BUENOS AIRES – In the race for the Casa Rosada, the presidential palace overlooking the Plaza de Mayo, there is a neck-and-neck race: only a few percentage points would win the Peronist Sergio Massa, 51, and the libertarian Javier Milei Separate historic runoff election, which took place yesterday over 35 million Argentines go to the polls (voting is compulsory). Results and polls could only be published three hours after the polls closed. On the eve of a poll, the anti-system economist was slightly ahead – a shocking surprise in this election – but the economics minister, a political veteran trying for the second time to ascend to the state’s highest office, showed prudent caution until the end.
At stake are the votes of those who did not select any of the duelists in the first round. Specifically, the 24% who preferred Patricia Bullrich on October 22nd. Third-place finisher Juntos por el Cambia and former conservative president Mauricio Macri supported Milei. However, other representatives of the center-right alliance distanced themselves and even called for a vote for Massa. And there is the unknown of blank ballots, which could be as high as 20%.
On Calle Florida, the pedestrian mall of Buenos Aires’ microcenter, Blue Dollar traders were nervous and impatient yesterday afternoon. “Change, change,” they shouted. One hundred dollars on the street is worth 93,000 Argentine pesos. According to the official and not very real exchange rate, it is only 35,000 pesos. “Monday is a holiday, everything changes from Tuesday,” they warn. Is it going up or down? “It depends on who wins. If Milei passes, the dollar will skyrocket,” they predict on the black market. A real jungle that only a few understand and that everyone can endure.
The winner, whoever he may be, must immediately take important measures regarding inflation (over 142%), public debt ($419 billion), depletion of foreign reserves and negotiations with the International Monetary Fund, which makes Argentina 44th Billions of dollars owed dollars. Massa announces a government of national unity with the arrival of non-Peronist representatives and gradual structural reforms. Milei reiterates that he wants to dismantle the central bank, privatize industry and “dollarize” the economy. “We hope that from tomorrow there will be more hope and not the continuity of decadence,” said the Libertad Avanza candidate. During the elections, he added that he feared fraud: “Kirchnerism will cheat by any means possible.” He then locked himself in the suite on the 21st floor of the Hotel Libertador with his sister Karina and his closest associates. Sergio Massa, waiting for the results at a cultural center in the Chacarita district, said: “It is a historic day for Argentina, the next four years of the country will be decided. “We hope that in the future we will find ourselves better and more united.” On December 10, the day the new government is inaugurated, Argentina celebrates 40 years of democracy since the end of the military dictatorship. A good omen and a legacy that must be preserved with great care.