Right-wing ultraliberalist Javier Milei wins Argentina’s presidential election with 56 percent, with 86 percent of votes counted.
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Milei trailed Massa by nearly 12 points
With 99.26 percent of the ballots counted, Argentina’s president-elect, ultraliberalist Javier Milei, garnered 55.69 percent of the vote, nearly 12 points more than his rival, Peronist Sergio Massa, who scored 44.31 percent.
Milei triumphed mainly in the country’s interior, particularly in the provinces of Mendoza, where he got 71% of the vote, and Córdoba, where he took 74.14%. Thus achieving a victory that exceeded polling predictions.
Trump: “I am very proud of you”
Donald Trump congratulated Argentina’s newly elected president, Javier Milei, whom many observers have likened politically just to the former U.S. president.
“Congratulations to Javier Milei on a great run for the presidency of Argentina. The whole world was watching! I am very proud of you. You will transform your country and really make Argentina great again,”
Trump wrote on his social Truth, adapting his 2016 campaign slogan (Make America Great Again) to the South American country.
Milei: “Today begins the reconstruction of Argentina”
“Today begins the reconstruction of Argentina.” This was stated by the South American country’s newly elected president, after getting the better of Sergio Massa in the runoff.
In a speech delivered at his campaign headquarters in Buenos Aires, as his supporters poured into the streets of the capital waving Argentine flags, Milei said that “there is no room for half-measures.” Thus stressing that “we have huge problems ahead of us: inflation, unemployment and poverty.”
“The pattern of decadence has come to an end, there’s no turning back,” continued the newly elected president who garnered 56 percent of the vote. Thus is the largest margin of victory in a presidential race since the South American country returned to democracy in 1983.
Lula congratulates Milei
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva put aside the deep ideological differences that separate him from ultraliberal Javier Milei and extended his hand to Argentina’s new president-elect.
“Democracy is the voice of the people and must always be respected,” Lula wrote in a message on social media. “I wish the new government good luck. Argentina is a great country and deserves all our respect.
Brazil will always be there to work together with our Argentine brothers,” the post concluded. Lula also noted in this way the bitter defeat of his preferred candidate, moderate Peronist Sergio Massa. To whom he had provided his campaign staff of experts in the hope that Brazil’s main trading partner would maintain an ideologically aligned government.
Read also: Brazil and Argentina may have a single currency: what is the “Sur” project
