Argentina requires that citizens vote, and 69 per cent of the country’s 35 million voters went to the polls, each choosing candidates for positions ranging from local councilman to president. It marked the lowest participation for presidential primaries since the system of mandatory primary elections was set up in 2009.
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The major parties had contested races for their presidential candidate nominees. Milei was uncontested, and got a few points more than the candidates of parties that have dominated Argentine politics.
After doing much better than expected, the upstart candidate with long sideburns and shaggy hair who gained notoriety and a rockstar-like following by angrily ranting against the “political caste” is now a real contender for the presidency.
In Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro was president from 2019 to 2022, and had a similar anti-left and anti-social justice orientation.
Right-wing populists are also making inroads with a tough-on-crime message, most notably in El Salvador, where the popularity of President Nayib Bukele has soared amid a crackdown on gangs that has led to human-rights abuses.
A follower of Javier Milei, presidential candidate of the Liberty Advances coalition, dress as Spiderman stands outside his campaign headquarters after polling stations closed in Buenos Aires.Credit: AP
With around 97 per cent of polling locations reporting, Milei had around 30 per cent of the total vote, according to official results.
The candidates in the main opposition coalition, United for Change, were at 28 per cent and the current governing coalition, Union for the Homeland, had 27 per cent.
In order to win the vote in two months, Milei would have to increase his share of the nation’s votes by 15 per cent, a high hurdle even in a nation where voters tend to favor candidates they see as winners.
If one candidate doesn’t receive 45 per cent of the vote, they would need 40 per cent and a 10-point lead over the second-place candidate. Otherwise the race would go to a November runoff between the top two.
Celebrating in his election headquarters, Milei vowed to bring “an end to the parasitic, corrupt and useless political caste that exists in this country.”
“Today we took the first step toward the reconstruction of Argentina,” he said. “A different Argentina is impossible with the same people as always.”
In Buenos Aires on Monday, Milei’s supporters seemed most excited about someone new coming into the scene.
“We always end up going back to the other party, then the other comes back, and it’s a cycle that keeps us in the same situation,” Clara Costa, a 54-year-old administrative assistant, said.
Milei has been a lawmaker in the lower house of Argentina’s Congress since 2021.
Argentina is struggling with annual inflation over 100 per cent, rising poverty and a rapidly depreciating currency, and Milei first attracted wider support by calling for the country to replace the peso with the US dollar.
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Milei would need Congress to support that and that would be highly unlikely. As a result, he has said he would push for a referendum or a non-binding popular vote on the issue, although it’s also unclear if he would be able to push that through without the support of MPs.
Asked about the vote in Argentina, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador stated that inflation and economic crises “always benefit the right and conservatism, which is somewhat what’s happening in Argentina,” and he mentioned the case of Hitler. He immediately made clear he wasn’t making a direct comparison between the two but said it was “important to remember” that “inflation actually helped” Hitler rise to power.
Bolsonaro’s lawmaker son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, celebrated the results, characterising them on social media as “an excellent start to what could be the real change that Argentina needs.” Days before the primaries, former president Bolsonaro published a short video wishing Milei luck in the election.
The main opposition coalition, United for Change, moved more to the right as former Security Minister Patricia Bullrich, who made toughness on crime a centrepiece of her campaign, handily beat a more centrist contender.
In the currently governing coalition, Union for the Homeland, the more business friendly candidate — Economy Minister Sergio Massa — easily beat a leftist contender but still took an overall beating from voters frustrated over the poor state of the economy, finishing in third place for total votes.
At Milei’s electoral headquarters, party leaders were ecstatic while people celebrated outside, expressing optimism that their candidate’s support would only grow in the run-up to October.
“I like his ideas about freedom,” said Orlando Sánchez, 26, a retail worker. “If criminals walk around with guns on their belts, why can’t an ordinary citizen have one lawfully and with the proper documentation? People are clearly tired of politics, being constantly lied to.”
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