It is a resounding slap in the face for the established political forces in Argentina: in the primaries to determine the candidates for the presidential elections on October 22, the outsider Javier Milei received the most votes. According to media reports, the right-wing populist and Trump fan won 30 percent of the vote on Sunday. The candidates of the conservative opposition coalition came up with only 28 percent and the Peronist left-wing government camp with 27 percent.
The legally required primaries (paso) are considered an important mood test when looking for a successor to the outgoing President Alberto Fernández. Argentina is currently groaning under a severe financial and economic crisis. The inflation rate is 115 percent. The national currency, the peso, is in freefall and the debt mountain of the South American country is growing inexorably.
Milei’s performance had been eagerly awaited given the huge problems that fueled voters’ skepticism about traditional politicians. The 52-year-old stands outside the traditional party spectrum of Peronists and conservatives in Argentina and presented himself as an anti-system candidate. And in other respects, too, he is an unusual applicant.
Milei is an economist and has been a member of the Argentine lower house for the party he founded, La Libertad Avanza (Liberty Advances), since 2021. He describes himself as a “libertarian liberal” and “anarcho-capitalist”.
If he moves into the Casa Rosada, the official residence of the Argentine President in the heart of Buenos Aires, the 52-year-old has announced a “complete reform of the state”. He wants to cut public spending, close ministries and abolish Argentina’s central bank. The Argentine peso is to be replaced by the dollar and the education and health systems as well as state-owned companies are to be privatised.
During the election campaign, Milei railed against the “political caste”. After his primary victory on Sunday, he announced at a celebration at his campaign headquarters that he would “put an end to the parasitic, corrupt and useless political caste in this country”.
The Argentine admires former US President Donald Trump and is ideologically close to him and former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. He thinks climate change is a lie. Milei wants to make handgun ownership easier and believes that selling human organs should be legal. Sex education is just a ploy to destroy the family for a former rock band singer. About his own sex life, he said on TV, “I’m a tantric sex teacher” and that he’s had threesomes before.
Because of his thick, tousled hair, Milei is nicknamed “peluca” (wig). The right-wing populist lives with five English Mastiff dogs that can weigh up to 100 kilos and calls them his family. Four of them are named after economists he admires: Milton (Friedman), Murray (Rothbard), Robert and Lucas (after US Nobel laureate Robert Lucas). Since he isn’t married, Milei said his sister Karina could become first lady should he take over the presidency.
Before the primary, analysts had warned of an unexpectedly good performance by Mileis. This could unsettle the financial markets and lead to a sharp drop in the price of the Argentine peso, since it is unclear what economic policy he would implement if he were elected president. The 52-year-old naturally sees things differently: “Today we took the first step towards rebuilding Argentina,” he commented on his pre-election triumph. “Another Argentina is not possible with the same people as always.”
Quellen: Associated Press, CNN Spanish,”Buenos Aires Times”, Reuters,