BUENOS AIRES (AP) — The far-right Javier Milei, with a critical discourse towards the traditional political leadership, emerged on Sunday as the candidate with the most votes in the primaries in Argentina in which the candidates for the presidency for the October elections are defined. , according to the official count.
After more than 70% of the votes were counted, the Ministry of the Interior indicated that the former Security Minister, Patricia Bullrich, won the primaries of the opposition coalition Juntos por el Cambio while the ruling Peronism ranked third with the minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, as a candidate.
The victory of Milei -the only candidate for the La Libertad Avanza space- with 31.75% of the votes, puts in check the electoral hegemony of the two main coalitions that have alternated in power in recent years and shows the frustration of Argentines with the ruling class for its inability to reverse inflation -which reaches 115% year-on-year-, insecurity and corruption.
Meanwhile, Bullrich stood with 16.97% and Massa with 20.91%. In total, Together for Change reached 27.79% of the votes adding the former Minister of Security and her opponent, the mayor of Buenos Aires Horacio Rodríguez Larreta and Peronism obtained 26.11% -taking into account the votes of his other candidate, Juan Grabois-.
Milei, 52, proposes to dollarize the economy and close the Central Bank to prevent it from continuing to issue pesos and accelerating inflation. She is in favor of the free carrying of arms and the sale of organs and against abortion. She affirms that climate change is a lie and is an admirer of the former presidents of Brazil and the United States, Jair Bolsonaro and Donald Trump, respectively.
Voting early on Sunday, Milei told reporters that members of the “caste of entrenched politicians” are trying to stigmatize him and that Argentina has a chance to change after decades of failure.
“This is really very strong and speaks of the tiredness of the people about the political leadership and not finding answers in two spaces that in the campaign have been more concerned with the inside (of their structures) than with the needs of the people. Milei is became a ‘rock star’ among young people with a higher educational level and then became a ‘rock star’ for the lower classes,” Mariel Fornoni, director of the Management & Fit consultancy, told The Associated Press.
The analyst pointed out that the economist who became a deputy in 2021 began to regain his advantage in recent days due to the sudden devaluation of the peso and the violent acts of crime that occurred in the surroundings of Buenos Aires “which made people much more angry.”
Franco Lesertessur, a 19-year-old student to become a customs broker who was in the Milei campaign command, said he felt very happy because his victory meant a change in the Argentine political system. “We are tired of living like this. Why am I, at 19 years old, thinking of having a life in another country that is not mine?”
The young man indicated that some of Milei’s opinions could be wrong, but he rescued his proposal to reverse inflation through dollarization.
Bullrich, 67, began in politics in the 1970s in left-wing Peronism and then moved through different spaces until he was on the right wing of Together for Change. He has former President Mauricio Macri (2015-2019) as a political reference, although he clarified that he will not be his puppet.
Massa, 51 years old and a moderate within Peronism, maintains well-oiled ties with leaders of the United States and with the Argentine business community. In a leader accepted by the financial markets.
More than 35 million people were summoned to participate in the Open, Simultaneous and Mandatory Primaries (PASO) that work as a kind of electoral test to gauge the possibilities of the political forces and their pre-candidates for the presidential elections on October 22.
The primaries also define the aspirants to occupy 24 seats in the Senate and 130 in the Chamber of Deputies of the national Congress, in addition to the candidates for mayor of the City of Buenos Aires and the government of the province of the same name, among other positions. Voting is mandatory.
Several pre-candidates called on citizens to participate fearing that, due to disappointment with the political class, abstention would be higher than in other primaries held in the past.
