The candidates for the Presidency of Argentina, the Peronist Sergio Massa and the far-right candidate Javier Milei, attended this Sunday a last debate before the second round on November 19. Both candidates defended their opposing positions on issues such as education, health, work and security, in a debate marked by mutual accusations and incisive questioning.
This Sunday, November 12, the candidates for the Presidency of Argentina, the Peronist Sergio Massa and the far-right candidate Javier Milei, issued harsh accusations one against the other, during the last debate before the second round on November 19.
At the meeting, at the Faculty of Law of the University of Buenos Aires, The current Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, candidate of the Peronist coalition Unión por la Patria, and the controversial economist Javier Milei, of the far-right force La Libertad Avanza, recalled, amidst replicas and accusations, their positions on the axes of economy, foreign relations, education, health, work, security and human rights.
“If you were Pinocchio, you would have already hurt my eye,” Milei said in response to Massa’s accusations of “liar” and added that Together for Change (center-right), which offered the far-right candidate its support For the second round, it will help monitor the vote to avoid fraud.
For his part, the Peronist candidate defiantly responded to Milei that they could “go to court together this Monday” if he had any complaint against him.
Milei defends dollarization and Massa promises to boost employment and exports
During the first axis, dedicated to the economy, Massa said that if he becomes President, on December 10, he will create two million jobs and promote exports with incentives for businessmen.
“I have proposed to create two million new jobs in Argentina, of formal registered work. For that I chose a path that has incentives, on the one hand, provided by the State and, on the other hand, efforts made by businessmen and workers “Massa explained.
During the campaign, the Peronist candidate has sought to clear up doubts about his possible economic management, after the rest of the candidates questioned his work as Minister of Economy in the first round.
Currently, Argentina faces a socioeconomic crisis, with year-on-year inflation that is close to 140%, poverty of 40.1% and exchange rate instability due to the fragility of its currency with respect to the dollar.
For its part, Milei insisted during the debate on two of his main proposals: the dollarization of the country and the elimination of the Central Bank.
The far-right candidate confirmed these proposals after Massa challenged him to answer if he was going to eliminate subsidies, dollarize the economy and privatize “rivers and seas.”
Milei responded angrily: “If we had convertibility we would have an average income of 1,800 dollars and not this misery that we have today. Yes, I am going to eliminate the Central Bank because it is what generates inflation. And I said that I am not going to eliminate subsidies. tap”.
Malvinas and Israel, among foreign relations issues
Another of the central points was foreign policy, an issue on which Massa and Milei also maintain opposing positions: while the Peronist defended “multipolarity”, the far-right candidate urged closeness with “the United States, Israel and the world.” free”.
The far-right has proposed that the South American country align itself with the United States and Israel, leaving aside other allies such as China, Brazil and the rest of the members of the BRICS group.
Another topic of debate was the dispute with the United Kingdom over the Malvinas. The two countries clashed over the sovereignty of the Malvinas, occupied by the United Kingdom since 1833, in a war that began on April 2, 1982 with the landing of Argentine troops in the archipelago and concluded in June of that year with their surrender to British forces.
The issue came to the debate after Milei expressed praise for former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher: “in the history of humanity, there were great leaders. Thatcher played a significant role in the fall of the Berlin Wall.”
In response, Massa mentioned the “irrevocable defense” of Argentine sovereignty over the Malvinas, while criticizing Milei’s admiration for Thatcher. “Thatcher is an enemy of Argentina, yesterday, today and always. Our heroes are absolutely non-negotiable, even though for you she is a Thatcher figure, for me she is not.”
Regarding the support of Argentina, where the largest Jewish community in Latin America lives, for Israel in the context of the war with Hamas, this has been the only aspect on which the two candidates showed agreement.
Massa promises a unity government and Milei asks to vote without fear
At the close of the debate, the candidates were asked by the moderators about why they want to preside over Argentina.
The current Minister of Economy insisted that Argentina needs a “government of unity”, mentioning a program of 10 State policies, and assured that he knows that some will not vote for him out of conviction, “but as a vehicle to not choose a path that “It is violence, it is hatred, it is damage.”
Meanwhile, Milei repeated that this is “the most important election of the last 100 years” because Argentina should not continue “traveling this decadent path” and “sustain this parasitic, stupid and useless caste”; Therefore, she asked to “vote without fear.”
Milei has said in the campaign that “the majority of Argentines” want change and is supported by the 29.99% of votes he obtained in the first round on October 22 and the 23.81% of the candidate of the Together for Change coalition (center-right), Patricia Bullrich, compared to the 36.78% that Massa obtained.
After the first round, Bullrich and former president Mauricio Macri (2015-2019) publicly expressed their support and asked to vote for Milei in the second round. The Bullrich votes are fundamental: more than six million Argentines supported her in the first round.
A tight second round, according to polls
Friday, November 10, was the last day for the consultants to release results of the voting intention surveys for the runoff. Several of them show very close data between the candidates.
Consulting Circuits shows that Massa is ahead with 44.2% of the support and Milei collects 42.1%. According to a survey by the pollster Projectionthe victory would be for the far-right candidate, with 44.6% of the support, compared to 42.9% for the Peronist candidate.
Meanwhile he Latin American Strategic Center for Geopolitics found in a survey that Massa would be the most voted candidate with 46.7% and Milei would come in second place with 45.3%.
Information from EFE and local media
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