Argentina’s presidential race heads to a runoff as far-right Milei underperforms

BUENOS AIRES (CN) — The next president to lead inflation-racked Argentina will be determined in a November runoff between center-left establishment candidate Sergio Massa and far-right outsider Javier Milei, following a Sunday election that defied expectations.

Although eccentric libertarian Milei had been leading public opinion polls for months, it was Massa, the current administration’s minister of economy, who took home the highest share of votes. Massa’s 36.7% of votes beat Milei’s 30%, though neither candidate cleared the 45% vote threshold — or 40%, with a margin of victory of at least 10% — needed to win the presidency in one round.

Massa and Milei will face off once again on Nov. 19. The rivals have four weeks to win over the Argentine public, which is fed up with rising poverty, skyrocketing inflation and the rapidly plummeting value of the local peso.

“I know that many of those who voted for us are those who are suffering the most,” Massa said on Sunday night, addressing a crowd that waved Argentina flags as if at a soccer match. “As your president, I will not fail you.”

Massa, a seasoned politician with one failed presidential run already behind him, is campaigning on promises to achieve economic stability and defend public institutions such as education. The shadow of Argentina’s current crisis has loomed large over his bid for president.

Around 11:30 p.m., standing amidst a street party that had erupted near Massa’s campaign headquarters, taxi driver Dario Leuwers watched a projection of the candidate delivering his celebratory address. A few feet away, his parked cab blasted the 1949 “Peronist March,” an orchestral anthem for the left-leaning Peronist coalition, which Massa belongs to.

“The millions of Argentines that voted today, we want an independent country. Politically, economically, we want sovereignty,” Leuwers, 50, said. “Other candidates are proposing a complete reliance on the United States. I hope Argentines realize that Argentina has to keep being Argentina.”

Leuwers was referring to Milei’s proposal to replace Argentina’s peso with the U.S. dollar, which the candidate claims would solve the country’s incessant inflation. Dollarization has been used in Ecuador, Zimbabwe and other countries to mixed results, but many economists worry that Argentina lacks the funds necessary to pull it off. The country is currently struggling to pay a $44 billion debt to the International Monetary Fund.

Milei’s other proposals include privatizing public institutions like health care and education, and easing gun restrictions. He often speaks about the U.S. aspirationally, and made headlines last month when he spoke to extremist pundit Tucker Carlson.

“All of us who are ready for change, we need to work together,” Milei said on Sunday night, addressing a lively crowd of supporters at his campaign headquarters. “If we work together, we can win. If we work together, we can save our country.”

Outside, 26-year-old Melany Alancay and 32-year-old Daniel Martin Montes clutched bright yellow flags that displayed Milei’s name alongside the silhouette of a lion, which has become a symbol for his libertarian campaign.

“At our age, our parents could buy a plot of land,” Alancay, who studies environmental science at a public university, said. “We can’t buy anything.” She holds the ruling Peronist coalition accountable for her country’s economic crisis, and although she doesn’t agree with Milei on everything — she considers his denial of human-caused climate change to be a “weak point” of his campaign, Alancay believes he can turn things around for Argentina.

Center-right candidate Patricia Bullrich came in third in Sunday’s election, taking home 23.8% of the vote. Bullrich voters will be pivotal in determining the outcome of Argentina’s runoff, along with the 6.8% of voters who cast their ballots for Córdoba province Governor Juan Schiaretti and the 2.7% who voted for leftist Myriam Bregman.

In their Sunday night speeches, Massa and Milei each reiterated their case to the Argentine public. Massa doubled down on his efforts to distance himself from the current administration, again suggesting that a Milei presidency would spell disaster for Argentina. Milei, meanwhile, lambasted the ruling party, which he sees as a “criminal organization” and “political caste,” and called upon voters to choose change.

About 74% of the electorate voted Sunday, according to government data. Voting in Argentina is mandatory for all citizens ages 18 to 69, and optional for 16- and 17-year-olds, as well as anyone 70 or older.

“I love voting,” 31-year-old Malena Pereyra said, standing on a subway platform in Villa Urquiza, a residential Buenos Aires neighborhood, just after polls closed on Sunday. “During the dictatorship, you couldn’t vote. So I feel really proud to be able to vote, and to be able to choose the people who represent us.”

The military dictatorship, also known as the Dirty War, ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. In a presidential debate earlier this month, Milei dismissed the brutal junta as a two-sided war. “It’s not 30,000 disappeared,” he said, denying a widely accepted estimate from human rights organizations of how many Argentines were abducted and never found again under the military junta.

Come November, Pereyra will be voting for Massa.

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