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Agence France-Presse

Argentines head to the polls Sunday in a down-to-the-wire race between two wildly different presidential candidates, with many frozen by indecision over which choice will rescue them from triple-digit inflation.
One candidate is Economy Minister Sergio Massa, 51, who has overseen annual inflation of 143 per cent and record poverty levels.
His rival is a complete outsider, the libertarian and self-described “anarcho-capitalist” Javier Milei, who has vowed to halt Argentina’s unbridled spending, ditch the peso for the US dollar, and “dynamite” the central bank.
Polls have the candidates neck-and-neck, with Milei at a very slight advantage.

“It’s very, very uncertain. And a lot of voters are going to make their decision literally in the last day, or hours, even at the voting booth,” said Nicolas Saldias, a senior analyst with the Economist Intelligence Unit.
The stakes are enormous for Latin America’s third-biggest economy, which has struggled with decades of fiscal woes.
Argentina won’t break China ties, but ‘secret’ deals due for review: Milei adviser
With over US$400 billion in public debt, central bank reserves in the red, and no credit line, the next government “will be digging Argentina out of an unbelievably deep hole with very few resources to do so,” said Benjamin Gedan, director of the Argentina Project at the Washington-based Wilson Centre.
Despite heavy government subsidies of fuel, transport and electricity, and millions receiving social welfare, poverty levels stand at over 40 per cent.
“Argentina has been a macroeconomic and social disaster for 50 years,” said analyst Carlos Gervasoni of the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella.
He said the emergence of Milei, a TikTok-savvy outsider who has upended Argentine politics and fired up the youth, was the consequence of decades of decline and stagnation in the country.
“What exists now doesn’t work for me. Maybe this change would be good,” said Milei supporter Matias Esoukourian, a 19-year-old economics student.
The 53-year-old Buenos Aires lawmaker with wild hair and a rock-star persona has gripped a disillusioned public with his fiery outbursts against a “thieving and useless political class.”

Before a first-round vote in October, he would leap onto stage with a powered-up chainsaw, vowing to slash public spending.
He is against abortion and has said he wanted to make it easier to buy guns and sell human organs. He has also denied humans are responsible for climate change and frequently insulted Pope Francis, a fellow Argentine.
While Milei had led the polls before the first round, it was Massa who confounded expectations by scoring the most votes in the October election, leading by 7 points.
This has led Milei to tone down his rhetoric in a bid to appeal to more moderate voters, saying dollarisation will be more incremental, ditching the chainsaw, and trying to avoid angry outbursts.
Argentina’s economy minister Massa, outsider Milei head to run-off
He also won the key backing of Patricia Bullrich, who placed third in the first-round – though it remains to be seen if her voters will back him.
Massa, meanwhile, has worked hard to distance himself from the more controversial members of his unpopular ruling Peronist coalition.
Gervasoni, the analyst, said Massa has been “openly and shamelessly using the state apparatus” to help his electoral chances.
This includes using adverts to warn transport prices would increase under Milei as well as slashing taxes and granting cash payouts to millions.
“He can’t run on his record, given how disastrously he’s managed the economy, and he can’t really run on his ideas, because if he had good ideas, you’d be seeing him implement them,” said the Wilson Centre’s Gedan.
“And so, what’s left for him is to fearmonger about what a Milei presidency would mean, whether that’s the dismantling of the social welfare system or wrecking Argentina’s key foreign relationships.”
Maria Lopez, 39, an employee at a trendy jewellery store in the capital, said she felt “bewildered”, but didn’t want to cast a blank ballot.
She and her husband have stalled their plan to try for a baby in the current economy.
“You can’t plan the future, whether it’s children or projects. Rent went through the roof. It gets harder and harder to make it to the end of the month.”
“It’s scary not knowing what will happen” after the election, she said.
Analysts say a devaluation of the strictly controlled peso is inevitable, with the value of black-market dollars now 150 per cent higher than the official exchange.
Political analyst Ana Iparraguirre said that Argentines should brace themselves.
“Whoever comes into office has to make some quick decisions that are going to hurt people.”


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Argentina

Massa vs Milei: Argentina faces nail-biter presidential election

Self-described ‘anarcho-capitalist’ Javier Milei will take on Argentine Economy Minister Sergio Massa. Photo: AFP

Presidential candidate Sergio Massa poses for a picture with students in Buenos Aires. Photo: Argentina’s Economy Ministry via AFP 

Javier Milei greets supporters during his closing campaign rally in Cordoba, Argentina. Photo: AP

A homeless person sleeps next to a bicycle in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Argentina won’t break China ties if Javier Milei wins presidency, but ‘secret’ deals due for review: adviser

Javier Milei, presidential candidate of the Liberty Advances coalition, has said he would “not do business with communist countries”. Photo: AP

Argentina’s Economy Minister Sergio Massa (left) and anti-establishment outsider Javier Milei will contest the South American country’s presidency in a run-off election on November 19. Photo: AFP

Argentina election: economy minister Sergio Massa, outsider Javier Milei head to run-off

(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on October 22, 2023 shows Argentina’s Economy Minister and presidential candidate for the Union por la Patria party, Sergio Massa (L), gesturing after delivering a speech during the Buenos Aires province closing campaign celebrating Peronist Loyalty Day at the Julio Humberto Grondona stadium in Sarandi, Buenos Aires, on October 17, 2023; and Argentine congressman and Presidential pre-candidate Javier Milei (R) posing ahead of an interview at a local TV station in Buenos Aires on June 24, 2023. Argentina’s Economy Minister Sergio Massa and anti-establishment outsider Javier Milei will face off in a runoff presidential election, according to partial poll results released Sunday. With 76 percent of votes counted, Massa surprised by pulling ahead with 35.9 percent of votes, while Milei secured 30.51 percent. The two will compete in a November 19 runoff election, with the winner to take office December 10. (Photo by JUAN MABROMATA and LUIS…

Economy minister and presidential hopeful Sergio Massa. Photo: AP

Presidential candidate Javier Milei greets supporters during a campaign rally in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Photo: AP

Argentina is creaking under decades of recurrent financial crises. Photo: Bloomberg

Argentina inflation hits 124 per cent as cost-of-living crisis deepens

A woman reaches in a bin of discarded produce outside a market in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Photo: AP

A homeless person sleeps on the pavement in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Photo: AP

Inflation or politics? Argentina hit by wave of looting

Police guard a supermarket after reports that looters tried to break into the store in Bariloche, Argentina. Photo: AP

The door of a supermarket on the outskirts of Buenos Aires after it was looted. Photo: AFP

 Javier Milei was the current presidential front runner ahead of the elections in October. Photo: AP

News

World

Americas

Argentina, Latin America’s third-largest economy, holds a presidential election run-off on Sunday
Argentina’s Economy Minister Sergio Massa takes on self-described ‘anarcho-capitalist’ Javier Milei


Argentines head to the polls Sunday in a down-to-the-wire race, with many frozen by indecision over which choice will rescue them from triple-digit inflation.


Americas and the Caribbean

Javier Milei