2023-10-23 06:34:00
A centrist Economy Minister, Sergio Massa, and an “anti-system” ultraliberal who wants to “cut apart” the State, Javier Milei, will face each other in November in the second round of the presidential election in Argentina, in a duel between two antagonistic visions of the country.
Sergio Massa, 51, candidate of the government bloc (center-left) overcame the handicap of a suffering economy and record inflation at 138%, to come first in the first round on Sunday with 36.6% of the votes. , according to the Electoral Authority, with more than 97% of the votes counted.
He is ahead of the “anarcho-capitalist” economist – as he defines himself – Javier Milei, 53, who with 30%, confirms his breakthrough since his burst onto the political scene two years ago, but below what polls predicted him.
They will contest a second round on November 19, with a view to an inauguration on December 10.
The candidate of the opposition bloc (center-right) Patricia Bullrich, a former Minister of Security protected by former liberal President Mauricio Macri (2015-2019), is eliminated, with 23.8%.
Argentines voted in a climate of uncertainty and concern, as rarely since the return of democracy 40 years ago, against a backdrop of chronic debt, inflation among the highest in the world, and a currency in constant depreciation for two years.
Change or leap into the void
The words “fed up”, “anxiety”, “no magic formula”, recurred among the voters approached by AFP, reflecting a tension between a real desire for change and fear of a “jump into the void”. “.
“We need a change. This country is a disaster, really, between poverty, inflation, people are not doing well,” lamented Gabriela Paperini, 57, near a polling station in Palermo district.
Milei, a polemicist who emerged in 2021 from TV sets onto the political scene, has since followed this “clear-cut” thread against the “parasitic caste”, according to him, Peronists (center-left) and liberals who have alternated in power for twenty years.
Sunday evening, he hailed “the best election in the history of liberalism”, a “historic day because two-thirds voted for change”, in reference to his voters and those of Ms. Bullrich. And he extended his hand to the defeated candidate, so that “all those who want this change work together to recover our country”.
His biting formulas, his electric style, spoke to an often young audience, without prospects. But his proposals, such as “cutting” the State and “dollarizing” the economy – to let the greenback supplant the peso – have also sowed doubt, even concern.
“People have started to perceive a risk in Milei,” analyzes political scientist Raul Timerman. The theme of the ‘chainsaw’, which at first was funny, turned into something frightening (…) They said to themselves: ‘This one is coming to destroy everything’.
At his campaign headquarters on Sunday evening, the disappointment was evident, after the hope aroused in the polls. “But I’m sure we’re going to turn this around. A lot of votes that aren’t for him will come back to him in the second round,” said Nahuel Pasquale, 27.
Sergio Massa, an ADN centrist who had already run for president in 2015 against his current Peronist allies, took care during the campaign to distance himself from the executive — neither President Alberto Fernandez nor the former head of state Cristina Kirchner, did not appear.
He strived to insist that “the worst of the crisis” is over, thanks to an upcoming export boom, and the end of a historic drought in 2022-23 which deprived Argentina, an agricultural giant, of 20 billion dollars in revenue.
“Too much to lose”
But above all in recent months it has increased its budgetary generosity: reduction in the number of taxable people, subsidies, VAT exemptions, to cushion the shock of inflation. “Electoral irresponsibility”, shouted his adversaries, while Argentina, with a pathological budget deficit, is struggling to repay a loan of 44 billion to the IMF.
On Sunday evening, Mr. Massa promised if he is elected to convene “a government of national unity”, which would be a first in democratic Argentina, and launched an appeal to the radicals, the moderate wing of the alliance of opposition “to all those who share our democratic values”.
His headquarters was all hugs and songs, including the old Peronist anthem played by a brass band.
“We knew we were going to create a surprise. People are much smarter than we think when it comes to defending the homeland,” Angelo Laredo, a 55-year-old accountant, told AFP. “If it’s not for today, it will be for November. Massa will be president.”
Nothing is decided yet, for economist Benjamin Gedan, specialist in Argentina at the Wilson Center think-tank. Mr. Massa “remains the Minister of the Economy of a fundamentally unpopular government”. But there is in Argentina “a deep anxiety at the idea of drastically changing the role of the welfare state, many have too much to lose”.
10/23/2023 06:33:19 – Buenos Aires (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
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