Right-winger Javier Milei wins Argentinean presidency
The far-right economist Javier Milei won Argentina's presidential election on Sunday, a resounding victory that opens up uncertainty in a country mired in its worst economic crisis in two decades.
The libertarian Milei won 55% of the vote to 44% for the Economy Minister, the centrist Peronist Sergio Massa, according to official partial results.
"Today begins the reconstruction of Argentina. The model of decadence has come to an end. There is no turning back. Enough of the impoverishing model of the caste, today we embrace freedom to become a world power again," Milei said in his first speech to a fervent crowd.
With annualised inflation at 143% and 40% of the population living in poverty, Argentines embraced the promises of change and the anti-establishment rhetoric of the anti-establishment Milei, 53.
"This is the change we young people want. I'm not afraid of Milei. I'm afraid that my dad won't be able to pay the rent. And the Argentine peso is worth nothing," said Juan Ignacio Gómez, 17.
"We are tired of Peronism. Milei is a stranger, but better a madman than a thief," said Nacho Larrañaga, 50, who wore an Argentine flag as a cape.
Thousands of people moved from the campaign headquarters to the Obelisk in Buenos Aires to celebrate Milei's victory with yellow flags and lion figures, the symbol of the president-elect and his La Libertad Avanza party.
Political scientist Laura Goyburu said Milei's victory represents "the beginning of a new political cycle in Argentina".
"It is quite difficult to predict how alliances will be reconfigured in the coming months because today was an earthquake, especially for Kirchnerist Peronism," she said.
Argentina has been governed since 2003 by the centre-left Peronism of Néstor and Cristina Kirchner, except for a four-year interlude of right-wing Mauricio Macri's government (2015-19).
Before Milei, the crowd chanted "Cristina will go to jail", an allusion to last year's conviction of the former president to six years in prison for corruption.
Kirchner cannot be arrested because of her immunity as current vice president and Senate president, but she will lose that status on 10 December, when Milei takes office.
US chief of diplomacy Antony Blinken congratulated Milei and said he looked forward to working with him "on shared priorities".
He was also greeted by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who wished him "luck and success", as well as by Chilean President Gabriel Boric and Colombian President Gustavo Petro, among other Latin American leaders.
In his speech, Milei thanked Macri and former candidate Patricia Bullrich of Juntos por el Cambio (Together for Change), who came third in the first round on 22 October, for their support in the run-off.
In Sunday's election, 76 per cent of the 35.8 million voters took part.
Dollarise?
Argentina is going through its worst economic situation in more than 20 years and Milei plans to tackle the crisis immediately.
"There is no room for gradualism, no room for half-heartedness or half-measures, he said. "We have monumental problems: inflation, stagnation, lack of genuine employment, insecurity, poverty and destitution. These problems can only be solved if we once again embrace the ideas of freedom," he said in his speech.
To revive Latin America's third largest economy, Milei proposed drastic measures such as dollarisation and the closure of the Central Bank, in order to put an end to inflation and monetary emission.
"I think he will take advantage of the first few months to carry out reforms," said Goyburu.
Milei, who has always worked in the private sector, created his party only in 2021, when he was elected deputy.
Although he won a significant vote in October's parliamentary by-elections, his force La Libertad Avanza has only seven of the 72 senators and 38 of the 257 deputies.
Argentina has had a $44 billion credit agreement with the International Monetary Fund since 2018, negotiated by then-president Macri, and since 2019 a system of exchange controls.
That agreement includes a commitment to reduce the fiscal deficit to 0.9% of GDP by 2024, which Milei considers insufficient.
Cry
In Massa's campaign headquarters, sadness gripped the militants, many with tears in their eyes.
Camila Velaron, 20, was one of the weeping Peronist supporters. "We're going to be back in four years with everything in shambles and rebuilding the pieces of the country he's going to leave behind," said the young woman, who along with a group of friends wore a purple T-shirt with the slogan "We will triumph all together", in reference to the rights of feminist and LGBT collectives.
Milei denies that there is a wage gap between men and women and rejects the consensus of 30,000 disappeared during the last dictatorship (1976-1983) established by human rights organisations. He estimates that the real figure is less than a third.
Furthermore, he argues that climate change is not caused by human activity.