The self-proclaimed anarcho-capitalist promised a radical turn before the elections.
BUENOS AIRES. The new president of Argentina is the far-right economist Javier Milea, who defeated the incumbent economy minister Sergio Massa in the second round of elections.
After counting 98 percent of the votes, the Electoral Commission of the CNE announced that Milei won 55.7 percent of the votes and Massa 44.2 percent.
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Massa admitted defeat even before the publication of the first partial results. “Javier Milei is the president,” he announced. “I congratulated him because the majority of Argentines voted for him,” he added.
Massa won the first round of elections held on October 22 with 37 percent of the vote, Milei got 30 percent. According to CNE, 76.3 percent of voters participated in the elections.
The second largest economy of South America is in a deep crisis — the inflation rate reaches more than 140 percent and approximately 40 percent of people in the once rich country live below the poverty line.
Argentina suffers from an overburdened state apparatus, low industrial productivity and a vast shadow economy, which prepares the state for tax revenue. The national peso continues to lose value against the US dollar, but the debt continues to grow.
Milei ran for the party La Libertad Avanza (Freedom Advances), which he founded in 2021. Before the elections, the self-proclaimed “anarcho-capitalist” Tento promised a radical change: He wants to make the US dollar a legal tender, abolish the central bank and many ministries, and radically reduce social spending. His role models are American ex-president Donald Trump and ex-Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, but similar to them, he presents himself as an anti-systemic candidate.
The new president of Argentina takes office on December 10.
