Argentina elects right-wing libertarian Javier Milei as its new president

Argentina has elected right-wing libertarian Javier Milei as its new president yesterday. This sets rolling the dice on an outsider with radical views to fix an economy battered by triple-digit inflation, a looming recession and rising poverty.

 

In his first speech as president-elect, Right-wing populist Javier Milei said that Argentina’s situation is critical and he promised to do drastic changes once he takes over the presidency of the third-largest economy



in Latin America. The reconstruction of Argentina begins today, he added.

With 97.6% of votes tallied in yesterday’s presidential runoff vote, Milei had 55.8% and Economy Minister Sergio Massa 44.2%, according to Argentina’s electoral authority. Presuming that margin holds, it would be wider than predicted by all polls and the widest since Argentina’s return of democracy in 1983.