Argentina’s next president will be far-right economist Javier Milei. His rival, Economy Minister Sergio Massa, has already congratulated him, conceding defeat in the second round of voting in the Latin American country of 46 million before the official results were announced.
Massa, 51, told his supporters on Sunday evening local time (tonight CET) that he had already spoken to Milei to “congratulate him and wish him the best of luck because he is the president the majority of Argentines have elected for the next four years”. His words were received with great enthusiasm in the camp of Mileia’s supporters, according to El Clarín. It is also celebrated in the streets of the capital, Buenos Aires.
Later, Massa’s words were confirmed by the interim results after counting 96 percent of the votes, according to which the fifty-three-year-old Milei had a clear lead in the ratio of 55.8 to 44.2 percent. At the same time, Massa, representative of the ruling Peronist Union for the Fatherland, emerged victorious from the first round of voting in October, defeating the second Mileia by seven percentage points.
The Argentine media saw the election ahead of time as a political battle between a candidate who represents continuity and Miley, who is seen as a fundamental change. Milei, described by foreign agencies as a “far-right libertarian radical” or a “right-wing populist”, has promised revolutionary economic steps, including replacing the domestic currency of the peso with the US dollar or abolishing the central bank.
