Before the presidential elections, which will take place on October 22, all Argentine political parties were required to submit to the PASO (Primary, Open, Simultaneous and Mandatory) elections process, which were held this Sunday, August 13. To the surprise of many, the libertarian candidate for “La Libertad Avanza”, Javier Milei, has achieved a result that is comfortably superior to that of the rest of the candidates for the presidency of Argentina.
When 81% of the votes have already been counted, Milei obtained 30.90%, surpassing the center-right coalition “Together for Change” (JxC), who obtained 28.04%, and Peronism encompassed in the brand “Union for the Homeland”, with 26.69%. These results anticipate that the electoral appointment scheduled for next October will be disputed between the former Minister of Security of the government of Mauricio Macri and candidate for “Together for Change”, Patricia Bullrich, the Minister of Economy of the current government of Alberto Fernández, Sergio Massa, and the libertarian deputy and candidate of “La Libertad Avanza”, Javier Milei.
According to official data, in addition to Milei, Massa and Bullrich, two other candidates are eligible to compete in the October presidential elections for having achieved more than 1.5% of the votes on their political fronts this Sunday. They are the non-Kirchnerist Peronist Juan Schiaretti, governor of the central province of Córdoba, who has 4.31% support, and Myriam Bregman, of the “Left Front”, with 2.57%.
The Miley Phenomenon
The irruption of the economist and his forceful speech against the “political caste” on the media scene, first, and in politics, later, mobilized an electorate that has proposed to end the state of affairs that was established with Kirchnerism years back. The promise that Milei has for Argentina and that has excited large sectors of the population, includes the total retraction of the role of the State to its minimum expression, as well as the liberalization of all economic restrictions, dollarization and -even- the demolition of the Central bank.
The results of the PASO have been very surprising, especially because its performance in the provincial elections was lower than expected and because the latest polls were not as favorable as the final results. With this Sunday’s elections, an unparalleled ideological drift was evidenced in Argentina due to the “Milei phenomenon.” Proof of this is that his formation, “La Libertad Avanza”, has been able to absorb voters from all social sectors, from those on the right who were dissatisfied with Macri’s gradualism… to those who previously identified with Kirchnerism.
“For this to be a complete party, to that third of Argentines who have decided that La Libertad Avanza is the expression that changes Argentina, I want to tell you that we are facing the end of the caste model,” celebrated Milei, alluding to no only to Peronism, but also to the right-wing project of Together for Change.
