Far-right libertarian outsider, Javier Milei has won Argentina’s presidential run-off poll, according to provisional results.
Per the Provisional results, Javier Milei had nearly 56% of the vote while Mr Massa had 44% out of almost 90% votes counted.
The election comes at a difficult time for Argentina with rising inflation to over 140% and an economy in crisis on peoples’ minds, detonating the central bank, as Milie’s proposal won support with many as the Argentina’s cry out for change.
Even though the results have not been declared yet, the centre-left finance minister Sergio Massa.
“Obviously these are not the results we hoped for and I have spoken to Javier Milie to congratulate him because he’s the president that the majority of Argentines have chosen for the next four years,” added Massa, whose Peronist movement has governed for 16 of the last 20 years.”
Milei’s victory was celebrated by other big beasts of the global far-right including Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro, who had championed his campaign and has promised to attend his inauguration. “Hope is sparkling in South America once again,” Bolsonaro wrote on X, hailing what he called a victory for “honesty, progress and freedom”.
The former US president Donald Trump wrote: “The whole world was watching! I am very proud of you. You will turn your country around and truly Make Argentina Great Again.”
His victory was also celebrated by X’s owner Elon Musk, who posted: “Prosperity is ahead for Argentina”.
Brazil’s leftwing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – who Milei has repeatedly insulted as a corrupt “communist” – recognised Milei’s victory in a tepid social media post. “Democracy is the voice of the people and must always be respected,” Lula wrote, without mentioning Milei by name. “I wish the next government good luck and success. Argentina is a great country and deserves our complete respect,” Lula added.
Colombia’s leftwing president, Gustavo Petro, lamented: “The extreme right has won in Argentina … [It is] sad for Latin America.” “Now say it without crying,” El Salvador’s right-wing president, Nayib Bukele, posted ironically in response.
Milei’s leftwing opponents reacted with shock and dejection to the election of a notoriously erratic figure whose radical ideas include legalising the sale of organs, cutting ties with Argentina’s two biggest trade partners, Brazil and China, and closing more than a dozen ministries.