A leap into the unknown
Libertarian Javier Milei is the new president of Argentina
The winner of the run-off election for the office of President of Argentina is Javier Milei. The libertarian candidate from the La Libertad Avanza party, which was only founded two years ago, won a surprisingly clear victory with 55.69% of the vote and a lead of over 11% against the Peronist candidate and incumbent Minister of Economy and Finance Sergio Massa with 44.3%. In the general elections on October 22, the latter had been able to claim first place in the voters' favor with just under 37% of the vote and a 7% lead over Milei. Voter turnout was 76.35% and the proportion of abstentions was lower than expected at 1.55%, with 1.62% of votes being invalid. The Libertarian won in 20 of the 23 provinces and in the autonomous city of Buenos Aires. He probably also owes his clear victory to the support of prominent figures from the conservative Propuesta Republicana (PRO) party. Although their presidential candidate Patricia Bullrich did not make it into the run-off, almost 24% of voters had given her their vote in October. Just three days after the election, both former President Mauricio Macri and Patricia Bullrich publicly spoke out in favor of Milei and against Massa. However, the initial euphoria over the election victory could quickly evaporate, even for the newly elected president, against the backdrop of the enormous challenges, particularly in economic policy.