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Argentina’s economy minister Sergio Massa has pulled off an unexpected win over libertarian challenger Javier Milei in the first round of the presidential election, setting up a polarising run-off next month as investors fret over the country’s economic turmoil.
With 96 per cent of votes counted Massa, from the country’s centre-left populist coalition, had won 36.5 per cent, against 30 per cent for Milei’s La Libertad Avanza party (LLA). Massa and Milei will advance to a run-off on November 19.
Patricia Bullrich, the candidate for the mainstream centre-right opposition bloc Juntos por el Cambio (JxC) and the favourite of most investors and business leaders, received 23.9 per cent.
The result on Sunday night overturned most projections, which had shown a consistent lead for Milei after he won a narrow victory in a primary in August, in which Massa came third.
In his victory speech Massa, who hails from the Peronist movement, reiterated a pledge to form a unity government with different political parties, vowing to end the divide between Peronists and non-Peronists that has dominated Argentine politics for 40 years. “I’m someone who believes in dialogue and consensus,” he said.
Milei recognised the election results and called on “everyone who wants a change” in Argentina to defeat Peronism. “I’m ready to have a clean slate . . . beyond all our differences we have to understand that we have a criminal enemy against us.”
138%Argentina’s year on year inflation figure in September
A veteran political figure from the right of the Peronist movement, Massa has overseen a worsening economic climate under outgoing president Alberto Fernández over the past 14 months. Inflation hit 138 per cent year on year in September while Argentina’s foreign currency reserves have been drained to support the plunging peso.
Milei ran a furious campaign against mismanagement and corruption by Argentina’s political establishment, while promising to slash spending by up to 15 per cent of gross domestic product and dollarise the economy to stamp out inflation.
No party will have a majority in Argentina’s congress. With half of the 257 lower house seats being contested, the Peronists will hold 103, with JxC at 93 and LLA at 39. In the senate, where a third of the 72 seats were up for grabs, the Peronists will have 31 seats, JxC 24 and LLA six.
The Peronists also triumphed in the closely contested gubernatorial election in Buenos Aires province, where more than a third of Argentines live. Incumbent Axel Kicillof, an ally of former Peronist president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, prevailed with 44.9 per cent of the vote.
Milei’s insurgent campaign has been fuelled by widespread frustration in Argentina after several decades of economic woes. But he has also courted controversy with support for radical ideas, including legalising the sale of human organs and referring to Pope Francis, a former Buenos Aires archbishop, as “evil’s representative on earth”.
While markets had been unnerved by Milei’s plans to overhaul the economy, the Peronists’ strong performance may hit Argentina’s already deeply distressed government bonds, said Martín Rapetti, executive director of economics consultancy Equilibria.
“Massa promises much better governability than Milei but the market consensus has doubts about whether Massa really wants to or is able to do the reforms that Argentina needs,” he said.