BUENOS AIRES, Nov 19 (Reuters) – Argentina elected right-wing libertarian Javier Milei as its new president on Sunday, rolling the cube on an outsider with radical views to repair an economic system battered by triple-digit inflation, a looming recession and rising poverty.
Milei, who rode a wave of voter anger with the political mainstream, gained by a wider-than-expected margin. He landed some 56% of the vote versus simply over 44% for his rival, Peronist Economy Minister Sergio Massa, who conceded.
“The model of decadence has come to an end, there’s no going back,” Milei mentioned in a defiant speech after the outcome, whereas additionally acknowledging the challenges that face him.
“We have monumental problems ahead: inflation, lack of work, and poverty,” he mentioned. “The situation is critical and there is no place for tepid half-measures.”
In downtown Buenos Aires tons of of Milei supporters honked horns and chanted his widespread chorus in opposition to the political elite – “out with all of them” – as rock music performed from audio system. Some folks set off fireworks as pleasure unfold.
“We came to celebrate this historic triumph,” mentioned Efrain Viveros, a 21-year-old scholar from the province of Salta. “I’m honestly ecstatic. Milei represents change, for the better. With Massa we’d have had no future, our future has returned.”
Milei is pledging financial shock remedy. His plans embrace shutting the central financial institution, ditching the peso, and slashing spending, probably painful reforms that resonated with voters indignant on the financial malaise.
“Milei is the new thing, he’s a bit of an unknown and it is a little scary, but it’s time to turn over a new page,” mentioned 31-year-old restaurant employee Cristian as he voted on Sunday.
Milei’s challenges are monumental. He should cope with the empty coffers of the federal government and central financial institution, a creaking $44 billion debt program with the International Monetary Fund, inflation nearing 150% and a dizzying array of capital controls.
Some Argentines had characterised the vote as a alternative of the “lesser evil”: concern of Milei’s painful financial drugs versus anger at Massa and his Peronist occasion for an financial disaster that has left Argentina deeply in debt and unable to faucet international credit score markets.
Milei has been notably widespread among the many younger, who’ve grown up seeing their nation lurch from one disaster to a different.
“Perhaps not everything Milei says I agree with or can identify with but he is our future,” mentioned Irene Sosa, a 20-year-old scholar celebrating exterior his election bunker. “Milei represents a future for young people like me, Massa was everything that is wrong with our country.”
Milei’s win shakes up Argentina’s political panorama and financial roadmap, and will influence commerce in grains, lithium and hydrocarbons. Milei has criticized China and Brazil, saying he will not cope with “communists,” and favors stronger U.S. ties.
Despite that, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wished Milei luck and success after the outcome was introduced, including that it was vital democracy was revered.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump congratulated Milei and mentioned the libertarian would make Argentina nice once more.
Leftist Colombian President Gustavo Petro, in the meantime, mentioned it was a “sad day” for the area.
‘PROFOUND RUPTURE’
The victory of Milei, a 53-year-old economist and former TV pundit, has damaged the hegemony of the 2 main political forces on the left and proper – the Peronists which have dominated Argentine politics because the 1940s and its most important opposition, the Together for Change conservative bloc.
“The election marks a profound rupture in the system of political representation in Argentina,” mentioned Julio Burdman, director of the consultancy Observatorio Electoral, forward of the vote.
The marketing campaign of Massa, 51, an skilled political wheeler-dealer, had sought to enchantment to voter fears about Milei’s risky character and plans to chop again the dimensions of the state.
“Milei’s policies scare me,” trainer Susana Martinez, 42, mentioned on Sunday after she voted for Massa.
Milei is staunchly anti-abortion, favors looser gun legal guidelines and has criticized Argentine Pope Francis. He used to hold a chainsaw in a logo of his deliberate cuts however shelved it in latest weeks to assist increase his average picture.
After October’s first-round vote, Milei struck an uneasy alliance with the conservatives. But he faces a extremely fragmented Congress, with no single bloc having a majority, that means that he might want to get backing from different factions to push by laws. Milei’s coalition additionally doesn’t have any regional governors or mayors.
That might mood a few of his extra radical proposals. Long-suffering voters are more likely to have little persistence, and the specter of social unrest isn’t far under the floor.
His backers say solely he can uproot the political establishment and financial malaise that has dogged South America’s second-largest economic system for years.
“Milei is the only viable option so we do not end up in misery,” mentioned Santiago Neria, a 34-year-old accountant.
Reporting by Nicolás Misculin, Lucinda Elliott and Walter Bianchi; Additional reporting by Candelaria Grimberg, Jorge Otaola, Jorgelina do Rosario, Alex Villegas, Maximilian Heath and Lucila Sigal; Writing by Adam Jourdan; Editing by Will Dunham and Rosalba O’Brien
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