Buenos Aires., The candidate of the far-right La Libertad Avanza, Javier Milei, surprisingly prevailed by winning 30.2 percent of the votes in the Primary, Open, Simultaneous and Mandatory (PASO) elections held yesterday.
With 94.5 percent of the votes counted at the close of this edition, it is followed by the right-wing opposition alliance Juntos por el Cambio with 28.3 (its pre-candidate Patricia Bullrich achieved 17 percent and Horacio Rodríguez Larreta 11.3), and the pro-government Union for the Homeland with 27.1 percent (the candidate Sergio Massa with 21.3 and Juan Grabois, 5.8).
Participation was 69.6 percent of the more than 35 million citizens summoned to the polls, with 4.6 percent white votes and 1.2 percent null, detailed the Ministry of the Interior.
In the province of Buenos Aires, Unión por la Patria won, with Massa for president and Axel Kicillof as candidate for governor, with 37.42 percent; Together for Change, with Diego Santilli for governor, had 31.59 percent, and Libertad Avanza, with Carolina Píparo for governor, registered 24.16 percent.
In the Federal Capital, where the right always wins, in these primaries Jorge Macri prevailed with 28.26 percent, over Martín Losteau, who reaped 26.90, adding 55.16 percent for Together for Change.
In second place, Leandro Santoro, from Unión por la Patria, obtained 22.19 percent, and in third place, La Libertad Avanza, with Ramiro Marra, achieved 13.51 percent.
It should be understood that these are the primaries in which the candidates who will contest the general elections on October 22 are chosen from the internal elections of each political movement, and the results provide indications of what will happen in a few months.
“Long live freedom, damn it!”, a euphoric Milei proclaimed when celebrating his unexpected triumph before followers, to whom he promised to put an “end to Kirch-nerism” and also to the “caste jam (thief) who sinks this country”.
Milei, the only candidate of the La Libertad Avanza alliance, fractured the electoral hegemony of the main coalitions that the government has alternated in recent years, and evidenced the frustration of Argentines with a political class that could not reverse inflation that reaches 115 annual percent.
“We are the force with the most votes because we are the true opposition,” said Milei, 52, and an admirer of former presidents Donald Trump (United States) and Jair Bolsonaro (Brazil).
He promises to dollarize the economy
He nurtured his campaign with the promise of dollarizing the economy, closing the Central Bank so that it does not issue more pesos and accelerating inflation. In addition, he is in favor of the free carrying of arms, the sale of organs and rejects abortion.
He predicted that if the results of the PASO are repeated in the October elections, “we would be in a position to have eight seats for senators and more than 35 representatives” and to “beat the caste in the first round.”
A true chaos was experienced in this capital due to the evident improvisation in the electronic vote, which the leadership of Together for Change refused to prove before this process, which was denounced by the electoral judicial authorities, and which forced the delay of the closing scheduled for 6 pm an hour and a half later, and in some points it lasted longer.
After the opening of the voting centers, complaints began on social networks about the delays in the installation of the tables, which later became the demand of the pre-candidates for heads of government in the capital.
Lawsuits for mishandling of electronic suffrage
One of the first to react was Martín Lousteau, representing the Radical Civic Union in Together for Change. The federal judge with electoral jurisdiction María Servini de Cubría announced that she will criminally denounce the government of the City of Buenos Aires, after warning about “the worrying degree of improvisation in the management of electronic voting machines for the head of the Buenos Aires government and local officials”. .
Servini de Cubría highlighted the “inexperience never seen before in the organization and execution of an electoral process”, in a letter sent to the president of the National Electoral Chamber, Alberto Dalla Via. He also cited operating problems and denounced that 30 percent of the machines did not work, while at other tables they did not even arrive and also “had not been connected or tested.”
In the City of Buenos Aires there were two voting systems, the ballot for national offices and the electronic ballot for those in the capital, which further delayed the process.
Hundreds of voters do not know who they voted for, because they had to ask for help for electronic suffrage, and as confirmed by the pre-candidate of Together for Change, Patricia Bullrich, who tried electronic voting seven times and even candidates from other parties came out.
The pre-candidates of the Left Front also denounced this situation and this Monday several criminal complaints will be presented.
The Unión por la Patria candidate for the leadership of the capital’s government, Leandro Santoro, recalled that he had anticipated and filed a complaint on this issue, and especially since the electronic voting system was never tested, which meant the possibility of fraud.
The hand of the IMF
The journalist Alfredo Zaiat, from Page 12, specialized in economic issues, wrote: “the International Monetary Fund did not have to wait for this Sunday to participate in the PASO elections, placing the envelope with the preferred candidate in the polls. Political favoritism is as obvious as it is scandalous, since it is not only ideological bias, but it is also expressed in billions of dollars.
He maintains that “the comparison with the government of Mauricio Macri is shocking. He handed over 44.5 billion dollars despite the fact that the two agreed programs were a fiasco, with widespread non-compliance and use of those resources in violation of the agency’s rules. The dollars were transferred to help in the electoral campaign of today’s opposition ruling party, a political bet that was unsuccessful.
He highlighted: “On the other hand, now, in a similar electoral instance but in extremely fragile financial conditions, the Fund not only does not comply with the promised disbursements, but also postpones them until after the results of these primaries are known, and presents itself as an auditor strict adherence to the macroeconomic goals defined in the program signed in the first quarter of 2022”.
