Updated: 2:33 (GMT-3)
Investigated: 98.51%
Mission: 77.65%
29.98%
7,884,336
Javier Milei
LLAFreedom moves forward
36.68%
9,645,983
Sergio Massa
UPUnion for the homeland
23.83%
6,267,152
Patricia Bullrich
JxCTogether for Change
6.78%
1,784,315
Juan Schiaretti
HpNPWe do for our country
2.7%
709,932
Myriam Bregman
FIT-IFrente de Izquierda y de Trabajadores – Unidad
Zero votes: 0.81% – 224,864
Empty voices: 2.04% – 554,161
Peronism is alive. Despite all odds, Sergio Massa won the first round of the presidential elections in Argentina this Sunday. With 36.6% of the vote, he stopped the right-wing extremist tsunami. Javier Milei, the political phenomenon who invaded Argentine politics and was ready to destroy everything with a chainsaw, was up 30%. Both will compete against each other in a second round on November 19th. Behind the hard data lies a frustration and a wonder. The frustration was aimed at Milei, who expected a victory that would leave him at the doors of Casa Rosada. The miracle happened for Massa, who, as economics minister, presented frightening data during the election campaign: 140% inflation, 40% poverty and the central bank with reserves in the red. At the end of the day, the Fear vote promoted by Massa defeated Milei’s Fury vote. On the way was Patricia Bullrich from Together for Change, the alliance that brought Mauricio Macri to Casa Rosada in 2015. The former security minister came third with 23.8% of the vote and was eliminated in the final race. The defeat is of epic proportions. The traditional right did not see Milei coming, has lost the banner of change and is now facing a painful process of disintegration.
Massa had placed third behind Milei and Bullrich in the mandatory primaries in August. The comeback must be aimed at in the province of Buenos Aires, with particular attention to what in Argentina is called “Conurbano”, the districts that surround the capital. 24% of the national census is concentrated there, and there Peronism has been able to narrow the gap with its rivals vote by vote. The suburbs are the most populous and poorest in the country. Peronism was born in these proletarian neighborhoods eighty years ago and has swept the polls ever since. Milei appeared to challenge this hegemony, even promising that he would abolish welfare plans, education and public health and throw tens of thousands of state workers onto the streets.
This Sunday the wave changed its sign and Peronism regained importance. The province’s governor, Axel Kicillof, who is close to Kirchnerism, won re-election with 44.9% in a district without a second round, giving Massa the votes needed to enter the presidential race. Peronism became strong where it should, winning more than 2.5 million votes between the August primaries and the first round this Sunday.
The candidates’ battle for the votes of Together for Change begins on Monday. Both Massa and Milei have fishing opportunities in the heterogeneous territory of the Macrista Alliance. The majority of Bullrich voters are deeply anti-Peronist and would never vote for Massa or any other leader in that area. Part of that electorate will go to Milei; Anyone who doesn’t want to vote for him will certainly prefer to stay at home.
On Sunday evening, Milei built bridges with this sector, with which he had bitter disputes during the election campaign. “I come to end the process of attacks and create a clean slate to end Kirchnerism. Beyond our differences, we must understand that we have a criminal organization before us. Kirchnerism is the worst thing that happened to Argentina,” he said. Bullrich had already foreseen that she was ready to fight if the goal was to end the Peronist government. “We will never be complicit with populism in Argentina or with the mafia organizations that have destroyed this country,” he shot to his supporters.
Javier Milei thanks his supporters during the speech he gave this Sunday evening.Photo: MATÍAS BAGLIETTO (Portal) | Video: EPV
Meanwhile, Massa’s chances are growing among the changemakers who chose the head of government of the city of Buenos Aires, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, in the primaries. This is a voter who is closer to social democracy and is ready to abandon his anti-Peronism if he sees an institutional threat in Milei. Massa will also have allies among the radicals who form Together for Change. “I want to speak to the thousands of radicals who share with us democratic values such as public education and the independence of power. “I will do my best over the next 30 days to earn your trust,” he told them on election night.
It would not be the first time that the Radical Civic Union, the centenary of former presidents Raúl Alfonsín (1983-1989) and Fernando de la Rúa (1999-2001), forged some kind of alliance with Peronism. A good part of the 650,000 votes from the traditional left that nominated Myriam Bregman as a candidate also went to the Peronist party. There remains a cake of almost two million votes received by the governor of Córdoba, Juan Schiaretti, a deeply anti-Church conservative Peronist. Hopefully most of these voters will choose Milei.
Milei will face the challenge of softening her image. During the election campaign he fired mercilessly against Peronism, but also against what he indiscriminately called “the political caste”. There he lumped politicians from all parties together and accused them of making their living through theft. Even his main campaign slogan, dollarizing the economy to end inflation, no longer inspires the same enthusiasm among the economists who support him. Many of them come from the old teams that promoted the convertibility of the peso with the dollar in the 1990s by Carlos Menem (1989-1999). Milei is no longer talking about approving the sale of organs and children, but rather about legalizing the carrying of weapons.
Massa won’t have it easy either, at the head of an economic management system that is leaking everywhere. Inflation is skyrocketing and the peso is worthless. Those who are able to do so flee towards the dollar, the scarcest commodity in the South American country’s economy. This week Massa received help from China, which provided $6.5 billion that the ministerial candidate can use to keep his government afloat at least until the second round. However, he can be satisfied: the election result he achieved this Sunday sounds like a miracle.
Sergio Massa came out after 11 o’clock at night to celebrate the victory in the first round and to speak to the militancy that greeted him at the campaign center with shouts of “President!” Only on stage did he thank the 35 million Argentinians eligible to vote and celebrated the comeback since the primaries. “I know that many of those who voted for us are the ones suffering the most. “I won’t let them down,” he assured. Marcos Brindicci (Getty Images)
The ultra-candidate for the presidency of Argentina, Javier Milei, turned to the “Together for Change” coalition to defeat Sergio Massa in the second round, which will take place on November 19. “I am ready to create a clean slate, mix and match again to end Kirchnerism,” he said from the election bunker.MATIAS BAGLIETTO (Portal)
Together for Change candidate Patricia Bullrich has admitted her election defeat. “Argentina has been sinking into decadence for years. We will never be complicit with communism in Argentina or with the mafias that destroyed this country,” she said from her bunker, accompanied by the leaders of her party.MATIAS MARTIN CAMPAYA (EFE)
The Peronist candidate Sergio Massa won the first round with more than 36% of the vote. He will face Milei, who received around 30% of the vote, in the second round of voting on November 19th. In the picture, supporters of Sergio Massa are celebrating the results of the first round of elections. Mario De Fina (AP)
Most of Milei’s supporters who came to the Hotel Libertador were confident that the leader of La Libertad Avanza would win in the first round. “But if it’s not first, we win second,” they said confidently. In the picture, a woman holds two Milei figures, this Sunday, after the polls closed.CRISTINA SILLE (Portal)
After the polls closed, dozens of people gathered in front of Javier Milei’s voting bunker at the Hotel Libertador in Buenos Aires. The atmosphere was like a street party: drums played and the Ultra candidate’s supporters sang “The caste is afraid” against the traditional political parties. In the picture: Milei supporters in front of the Libertador Hotel. MATIAS BAGLIETTO (Portal)
Argentina’s Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner after casting her vote at a ballot box in Río Gallegos. STRINGER (Portal)
President Alberto Fernández arrived in the Puerto Madero neighborhood of Buenos Aires before 10 a.m. to vote. After voting, the Peronist briefly answered questions from the press and took refuge in the voting ban to avoid self-criticism of his management. Asked about his plans after December 10, when his term ends, Fernández replied that “it doesn’t matter” if he retires from politics: “I will continue as a citizen, I am a citizen .” Esteban Collazo (Argentine President/Esteban Collazo/EFE)
Patricia Bullrich with a group of supporters after casting her vote at a polling station in Buenos Aires.CRISTINA SILLE (Portal)
Together for Change candidate Patricia Bullrich was the last presidential candidate to vote this Sunday. “I am happy with what we have done and what we have offered to the Argentine people,” she told the press after graduating. Matias Martin Campaya (EFE)
Sergio Massa cast his vote at a ballot box in Tigre, Buenos Aires province, on Sunday, October 22, in an image shared on his social networks.
The Peronist candidate Sergio Massa took part in the vote this Sunday together with his wife Malena Galmarini. “Argentinians define what kind of country they want,” he said as he drove out. The incumbent economics minister is being elected in the midst of an unstoppable economic crisis. In the picture Massa with his wife before the vote in Buenos Aires. Enrique García Medina (EFE)
The economist, who also celebrates his birthday today, had difficulty entering and exiting the Electoral College as many supporters waited for his support. Those present sang to him on his 53rd birthday and threw flower petals on his car.Juan Ignacio Roncoroni (EFE)
The far-right candidate Javier Milei came to vote this Sunday after noon. “We are capable of forming the best government in history,” he said amid the flood of supporters, adding that he hoped to “put Argentina on its feet.”MATIAS BAGLIETTO (Portal)
After the primaries in August, an unprecedented third-party scenario emerged in Argentine politics. The candidates most likely to advance to the second round were ultra Javier Milei, who is leading the polls; the Peronist and current Minister of Economy Sergio Massa; and the conservative Patricia Bullrich. In the picture, an Argentine living in Brazil prays while casting his vote at a ballot box in Rio de Janeiro. André Coelho (EFE)
Some 30 million people went to the polls this Sunday to elect the successor to Alberto Fernández, Argentina’s current president, after a campaign marred by the economic crisis and marked by the rise of the far right. In the picture, citizens vote in Tigre, Buenos Aires province. Enrique García Medina (EFE)
The polling stations opened at eight in the morning. According to the latest data, 74% of voters were registered to participate. In the picture, a voter throws his ballot into a ballot box at a polling station in Buenos Aires this Sunday.CRISTINA SILLE (Portal)
Argentines also elected representatives, senators and parliamentarians from Mercosur this Sunday. The provinces of Buenos Aires, Entre Ríos and Catamarca elect their governor; and the city of Buenos Aires, its head of government. In the picture is a ballot paper with the names and photos of the candidates. Marshal (EFE)