Argentina Elects New President
On Sunday, Argentina elected libertarian Javier Milei as its new president, Bloomberg reports.
With 93% of the ballots counted after the second round of elections, Milei won 56% of the vote against 44% cast by Argentines for Economy Minister Sergio Massa of the left-wing Peronist coalition.
Massa conceded defeat in a speech to supporters in Buenos Aires. "Argentines have chosen a different path," he said.
In the election campaign, Milei promised radical changes aimed at correcting decades of ineffective policies. This strategy resonated with a population suffering from a slumping economy, a prolonged currency depreciation and one of the world's fastest inflation rates.
As a result, Milei was given a mandate to fulfil his election promises, including ditching the peso for the US dollar and closing the central bank, as well as radical cuts in public spending in an attempt to bring the 46 million people out of the crisis.
The publication notes that " Milei's shock therapy is putting Argentina on a path of deep uncertainty, with some economists warning that dollarising the $622 billion economy at a time when international reserves are depleted could lead the South American country into another round of hyperinflation".
Meanwhile, representatives of the International Monetary Fund have called on the next government to quickly reboot the economy, stressing that there is no time for "gradualism".
"Milei has given the clearest, albeit riskiest, response to the day-to-day reality of soaring prices, which is the biggest concern of voters," the publication said.
He will take office on 10 December.
In his speech, Massa called on Milei to meet with President Alberto Fernandez to launch a "transition plan" to provide economic certainty and set the country's political and institutional direction.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has already reacted to Milei's victory.
"Congratulations to Javier Milei on his convincing victory in Argentina’s presidential elections. I appreciate his clear stance in support of Ukraine. I look forward to working together to strengthen our Ukrainian-Argentine cooperation and restore international order based on international law," he wrote on Twitter (X).
As The Gaze previously reported, Milei's August victory in Argentina's open primaries, which made him the favourite for the presidential election campaign, was dubbed a "political earthquake". And this is in addition to the "tsunami" of rampant inflation and reduced agricultural exports due to drought. This is important because food prices around the world, including in European supermarkets, depend on Argentine grain and vegetable oil.