The surveys have been warning of this in recent days. The liberal candidate Javier Milei was two points ahead of the Peronist candidate Sergio Massa. In the end there were twelve points of difference. The result in Argentina has expanded expectations and the country’s new president will be an “outsider” politician who comes to power from outside the system and with a harsh criticism of Peronism and its years-long corruption. Milei obtained 55.95 of the votes compared to 44.04% for Massa (about two million votes difference), who, after twelve at night, came out to the stage to acknowledge defeat against his rival. . “Argentina has a strong and solid democratic system,” said Massa. «The results are not what we expected. I congratulated Javier Milei, I wished him luck. Coexistence, dialogue and respect for peace in the face of so much violence and disqualification is the best path we can take,” he added.
Massa addressed his people laconically: «I continue to believe, just like the first day, that Argentina needs State policy agreements, that the educational system, the labor system, the system of guarantees, human rights, international relations, “They must be agreements that Argentina goes through in the next ten years,” said the defeated Unión por la Patria candidate.
Milei – who will occupy the presidency from December 10 – is a mystery, but despite his risky political program he received the support of former president Mauricio Macri and dozens of former heads of government such as Mariano Rajoy and former ministers of Latin America.
The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, wished this Sunday “good luck and success” to the new Argentine Government, in a message on his social networks in which he acknowledged that ““democracy is the voice of the people”, although he did not quote Milei. “Argentina is a great country and deserves all our respect,” wrote Lula, who during the campaign in Argentina was branded by Milei as a “communist” and corrupt,” adding that “Brazil will always be available to work with our Argentine brothers.” The president of Colombia, Gustavo PetroOn the other hand, he regretted that in Argentina “the extreme right” had won, and maintained that the election of Milei as the next president is “sad news for Latin America.”
Who is Milei?
Milei, an economist who stood out as a television talk show host, has taken an enormous leap in recent years by arriving in Congress in November 2021 with a residual force of just five deputies, and by becoming president of Argentina this Sunday, a country burdened by corruption and inflation, in addition to rampant poverty that affects 40% of citizens.
Its main message penetrated at an astonishing speed among an Argentine electorate fed up with years of economic crisis, inflation, ineffectiveness and corruption of the traditional parties. Politicians, Milei said during the campaign, “we have to kick their asses out.” The new winner has denounced the existence in Argentina of a “caste” of “political jets” (thieves) whom he promises to banish from their seats. We will see what his strategy is from now on.
The future president, 54, studied at a Catholic school in a residential neighborhood on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, where he made his debut as a goalkeeper on a local soccer team and earned a reputation for being moody, ending up graduating in Economics from private universities in Buenos Aires. It was there that he began to convince himself that All the national problems that the State had not been able to solve could be corrected by the action of the market.a conviction that encourages the radical economic proposals that have seduced many voters but have made academics’ hair stand on end, such as eliminating the central bank, establishing the dollar as currency in Argentina, or allowing the free sale of weapons and organs. .
Milei is not a typical conservative. In the same way that he is radically opposed to abortion, he is in favor of homosexual marriage because “it is a contract between private parties” and, despite declaring himself Catholic, he has one of his favorite targets in his compatriot Pope Francis. . He has accused him of being “a Jesuit who promotes communism” and even of being “a representative of the evil one on earth,” furious attacks that prompted complaints from the Vatican.
At the close of this edition, Milei was preparing his speech with Santiago Caputo, the political consultant and personal friend who became his campaign guru. «If the official data confirms that he wins, It will have a message of openness towards those who want to participate in the transformation of Argentina. And he will say that those who are not part of the solution will be part of the problem,” anticipated one of Milei’s most trusted collaborators, according to the newspaper “La Nación.” Both Macri and the candidate of the traditional right, Patricia Bullrich, went to the Milei headquarters last night to celebrate the victory, a milestone in the history of Argentina that opens a new stage in its democracy.
