The far-right economist has convinced a majority of Argentines with his program to “dismember” the state by focusing on the privatization of health and education. With 55.7% of the vote, he clearly beat the Peronist Sergio Massa.
It is an earthquake whose first tremors were felt last summer during the primaries. Javier Milei, a 53-year-old ultra-liberal economist, was elected president of Argentina this Sunday, November 19, with 55.7% of the vote, much more than predicted in the polls and a mixed result in the first round (30%) . . He defeated the Peronist Sergio Massa, who had opened the race for the highest office after the withdrawal of left-wing President Alberto Fernández. As economy minister, Massa was hit by 145% inflation over 12 months and collapsed in the face of the campaign man brandishing a chainsaw, a symbol of the massive cuts he is making to state budgets.
Therefore, the political earthquake is for Argentina, since the right-wing troublemaker’s program to deal with the very serious economic crisis is delusional and largely inapplicable: abandonment of the national currency, the peso, in favor of the dollar, abolition of the central bank, the closure of numerous ministries such as health or education… His talk of breaking with what he calls the “political caste” hit the mark.
The election promised to be exciting, with the two men close in recent polls. A priori, the deciding factor was the undecided, who still represented 10% of the electorate on Thursday, when the election campaign officially ended. Despite a televised duel, Massa largely won.
In the first round on October 22nd, Sergio Massa was leading with 37%, 7 points ahead of Milei, who the polls still showed as the big favorite after his triumphant breakthrough in the mandatory primaries in August. The anti-system candidate had denounced electoral fraud by saying that the military police in charge of monitoring polling stations had stolen ballot papers, an accusation he had already repeated before the second round of voting. The entire campaign between the two rounds revolved around the divisive personality of this well-known television character, where for years he broadcast his ultra-liberal credo, like an Eric Zemmour of the southern hemisphere.
Like the United States with Donald Trump in 2016, then Brazil in 2018 with Jair Bolsonaro, Argentina elected a populist and extremist president. This could be a rude awakening for Argentine society. In addition to withdrawing the state from the health and education sectors to make way for the private sector, the senior tribune vowed to phase out welfare in a country where 40% of the population lives below the poverty line. As a declared admirer of the dictatorship, which killed 30,000 perceived opponents between 1976 and 1983, he also wants to return to freedom of abortion. The new president will take office on December 10th.