Javier Milei led the vote in this week’s primary election in Argentina. Image source: Todo Noticias via Wikimedia
Javier Milei (52), a far-right and populist candidate, has shocked pundits by receiving the most votes in Argentina’s primary elections yesterday.
The primary elections are for choosing nominees for the presidential elections in October.
The far-right libertarian economist had reportedly gathered just over 30 per cent of the votes, far higher than estimates, which had suggested that Milei would, at best, finish third.
His main conservative opposition was not far behind at 38 per cent, with the currently ruling Peronist coalition coming third at 27 per cent.
The Peronist coalition rests in Argentina’s centre-left, with Milei’s win seen as a harsh response to the Peronist’s and Together for Change opposition in the wake of the country’s massive inflation rate of 116 per cent.
The resulting cost-of-living crisis has left four in 10 people living in poverty.
As such, the state of the economy has made many Argentines to be disillusioned with the primary political parties.
“We are the true opposition,” said Milei in his victory speech. “A different Argentina is impossible with the same old things that have always failed.”
Voting in the primary elections is obligatory for adults in Argentina. As such, many see the result as a strong indication of who is most likely to win the country’s presidential election on October 22.
Milei had attracted support by calling for Argentina to replace the peso with the United States dollar as its primary currency.
Milei has called for the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic to be abolished.
“The central bank is a scam, a mechanism by which politicians cheat the good people with inflationary tax,” he has said previously.
He has also claimed that Bitcoin represented a change of attitude—although he has not gone so far as to advocate for Bitcoin to be used as legal tender for the country.
“Bitcoin represents the return of money to its original creator, the private sector.”
Milei is an admirer of former US President Donald Trump, and also claimed that climate change is a lie and that sex education is a plot to destroy families.
If no one receives 45 per cent of the vote in October’s election, a final runoff vote will take place in November.
