BUENOS AIRES, Argentina
Argentina elected right-wing libertarian Javier Milei as its new president on Sunday, rolling the dice on an outsider with radical views to fix an economy battered by triple-digit inflation, a looming recession and rising poverty.
Milei, who rode a wave of
voter anger with the political mainstream, won by a wider-than-expected margin.
He landed some 56% of the vote versus just over 44% for his rival, Peronist
Economy Minister Sergio
Massa, who conceded.
"The model of decadence
has come to an end, there's no going back," Milei said in a defiant speech
after the result, while also acknowledging the challenges that face him.
"We have monumental
problems ahead: inflation, lack of work, and poverty," he said. "The
situation is critical and there is no place for tepid half-measures."
In downtown Buenos Aires
hundreds of Milei supporters honked horns and chanted his popular refrain
against the political elite - "out with all of them" - as rock music
played from speakers. Some people set off fireworks as excitement spread.
"We came to celebrate
this historic triumph," said Efrain Viveros, a 21-year-old student from
the province of Salta. "I'm honestly ecstatic. Milei represents change,
for the better. With Massa we'd have had no future, our future has returned."
Milei is pledging economic
shock therapy. His plans include shutting the central bank, ditching the peso,
and slashing spending, potentially painful reforms that resonated with voters
angry at the economic malaise.
"Milei is the new thing,
he's a bit of an unknown and it is a little scary, but it's time to turn over a
new page," said 31-year-old restaurant worker Cristian as he voted on
Sunday.
Milei's challenges are
enormous. He will have to deal with the empty coffers of the government and
central bank, a creaking $44 billion debt program with the International
Monetary Fund, inflation nearing 150% and a dizzying array of capital controls.
Some Argentines had
characterized the vote as a choice of the "lesser evil": fear of
Milei's painful economic medicine versus anger at Massa and his Peronist party
for an economic crisis that has left Argentina deeply in debt and unable to tap
global credit markets.
Milei has been particularly
popular among the young, who have grown up seeing their country lurch from one
crisis to another.
"Perhaps not everything
Milei says I agree with or can identify with but he is our future," said
Irene Sosa, a 20-year-old student celebrating outside his election bunker.
"Milei represents a future for young people like me, Massa was everything
that is wrong with our country."
Milei's win shakes up
Argentina's political
landscape and economic
roadmap, and could impact trade in grains, lithium and hydrocarbons. Milei
has criticized China and Brazil, saying he won't deal with
"communists," and favors stronger U.S. ties.
Despite that, Brazilian
President Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva wished Milei luck and success after the result
was announced, adding that it was important democracy was respected.
Former U.S. President Donald
Trump congratulated Milei and said the libertarian would make Argentina great
again.
Leftist Colombian President
Gustavo Petro, meanwhile, said it was a "sad day" for the region.
The victory of Milei, a
53-year-old economist and former TV pundit, has broken the hegemony of the two
leading political forces on the left and right - the Peronists that have
dominated Argentine politics since the 1940s and its main opposition, the Together
for Change conservative bloc.
"The election marks a
profound rupture in the system of political representation in Argentina,"
said Julio Burdman, director of the consultancy Observatorio Electoral, ahead
of the vote.
The campaign of Massa, 51, an
experienced political wheeler-dealer, had sought to appeal to voter fears about
Milei's volatile character and plans to cut back the size of the state.
"Milei's policies scare
me," teacher Susana Martinez, 42, said on Sunday after she voted for
Massa.
Milei is staunchly
anti-abortion, favors looser gun laws and has criticized Argentine Pope
Francis. He used to carry a chainsaw in a symbol of his planned cuts but
shelved it in recent weeks to help boost his moderate image.
After October's first-round
vote, Milei struck an uneasy alliance with the conservatives.
But he faces a highly fragmented Congress, with no single bloc having a
majority, meaning that he will need to get backing from other factions to push
through legislation. Milei's coalition also does not have any regional
governors or mayors.
That may temper some of his
more radical proposals. Long-suffering voters are likely to have little
patience, and the threat of social unrest is never far below the surface.
His backers say only he can
uproot the political status quo and economic malaise that has dogged South
America's second-largest economy for years.
"Milei is the only viable
option so we do not end up in misery," said Santiago Neria, a 34-year-old
accountant.
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