This Sunday, November 19 at Argentina will vote in presidential second round to choose the next head of state between Sergio Massa, the current minister of economy, candidate of Unión por la Patria (Peronism) and who obtained the majority of the votes in the first round; and Javier Milei, libertarian economist and leader of the La Libertad Avanza party.
(Also read: Argentines enter a period of reflection for the second presidential round)
In the first round, Massa came first, with almost 37 percent of the votes, and Milei, second, with 30 percent.so the more than six million voters (24 percent) who supported the opposition candidate of the Together for Change coalition (center-right), Patricia Bullrich, will be essential.
She and former president Mauricio Macri (2015-2019) have already publicly expressed their support for Milei. And Bullrich, in fact, assured that more than 90 percent of those who voted for her in the first round will accompany her in her decision to support Milei.
(Also: The reasons why Gustavo Petro asks Argentines to vote for Sergio Massa)
And the Argentines will face a polarizing decision between the continuity model proposed by Massa and the radical restructuring that Milei promises.
Massa, the Minister of Economy of the government of Alberto Fernández, is held responsible, in part, for the economic crisis of the country, which is experiencing inflation of 142.7 percent – one of the highest in the world – and which today has 40.1 percent of its population below the poverty line.
Milei, on the other hand, scares most traditional economists in Buenos Aires, who believe that his policy proposals, including exchanging the peso for the US dollar, could end in hyperinflation.
(We recommend you read: Final stretch for the second round in Argentina: how are Javier Milei and Sergio Massa doing?).A total of 35.8 million voters are eligible to go to the polls in these elections, in which a winner is declared by simple majority.
This is the card that will be given to Argentines on November 19 to elect their president.
Inflation slows in October, but remains very high
Inflation remains very high in Argentina, although it slowed in October.
On Monday, the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC) reported that inflation for that month was 8.3% (in August and September it had been 12.4% and 12.7% respectively). Between October 2022 and the same month of 2023 it was 142.7%.
Football enters the campaign due to a Milei proposal
Argentine football came into politics after a proposal from Javier Milei. The candidate proposed transforming the clubs into public limited companies.
The teams affiliated with the Argentine Football Association (AFA) came out openly against the libertarian candidate. In the case of the players, the majority have chosen silence.
Reports of possible fraud
La Libertad Avanza, Javier Milei’s party, has been making allegations of possible fraud or irregular maneuvers, which could anticipate complaints from that space if it does not have a favorable result, according to the ‘AFP’ agency.
DUVÁN ÁLVAREZ AND ALEJANDRA OSPINA
ELTIEMPO.COM
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