MACIEJ STASIŃSKI
ARGENTINA: ANARCHO-CAPITALIST JAVIER MILEI ADVANCES TO THE SECOND ROUND OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
As expected, a second round will be necessary to elect a president in Argentina. It is a surprise that the previous favorite in the race, Javier Milei, succumbed in the first round to the incompetent Minister of Economy Sergio Massa.
The passage to the second round of the presidential elections of Javier Milei, declared enemy of the Government, of the “political caste”, of the left and of the State in general, was certain, but that the Peronist Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, would enter and even take the first place was not expected by anyone.
For his part, Massa, Minister of Economy in the current government of President Alberto Fernandez, obtained 36 percent of the votes on Sunday, beating Milei, who narrowly surpassed 30 percent.
This means that the two will face each other in an overtime fight next month. And it remains to be seen whether Argentina’s president will be the candidate of the disastrously governed Peronists or their mortal enemy, who blames the “government thugs” for ruining the country and plunging Argentines into misery.
MASSA BROKE IT ALL AND PROMISED TO FIX IT
Massa was as surprised by his victory as Milei was by his defeat. The current government’s economy minister has failed to stop Argentina’s unstoppable slide into another collapse.
Annual inflation, which doubled under his government, is again at 140% and 40% of citizens live in poverty.
The currency, artificially propped up by the government, continues to lose on the free market against the dollar (the black market rate is double the official rate), which has caused the minimum wage to fall from $380 to about $150 per month. Unemployment is slightly above 6%, but purchasing power is hitting a ceiling, and only public subsidies and currency printing are further curbing poverty. In the four years of President Fernandez’s government, the basket of basic commodities has increased by 720%, and by 170% under Massa’s ministry alone.
Argentina has to repay $44 billion in debt to the International Monetary Fund, but fails to pay this obligation and defaults on the loan conditions.
As columnists wittily comment on the results of the first round of the elections, Sergio Massa managed to split into two opposing personalities during the campaign. The presidential candidate promised to fix everything that Minister Massa had botched. And -at least in the first round- he won!
ARGENTINES WERE FRIGHTENED BY MILEI
If this miracle occurred, it was probably because the anti-regime Javier Milei exaggerated his adventurism, brutality and demagoguery to such an extent that a significant part of Argentines were frightened by the specter of his power.
Milei announced, among other things, the destruction of the State with the chainsaw he wielded at rallies, cutting ministries in half (including the abolition of Education and Health), rolling back social programs, abolishing the Central Bank, introducing the dollar, banning abortion and sex education in schools. He denied the crimes of the military dictatorship of 40 years ago, exterminated socialism everywhere and denied global warming. He announced all this at rallies, shouting furiously that he would chase away thieves and leftists.
In the last weeks before Sunday’s vote, Argentines began buying goods, withdrawing savings from banks and buying dollars. Minister Massa took advantage of the panic by presenting himself as a responsible statesman who would not allow opponents to turn the country upside down.
THE FIGHT FOR VOTERS
Now, the fate of the elections depends on who will finally vote for those who supported the candidacy of the third party in the first round: the traditional center-right Juntos por el Cambio, which had nominated former minister Patricia Bullrich, who obtained around 24% of the votes.
Her party is fiercely anti-Peronist and Ms. Bullrich has already declared that she will never vote for or urge her followers to vote for Sergio Massa.
Milei, who has just snatched many votes from the center-right, is already calling for the unity of “the two-thirds of Argentines [i.e., his and Bullrich’s voters] who voted for change.”
The Peronist Massa also knows that he has to win not only the votes of the citizens, who always support the Peronists, no matter how disastrously they govern and how corrupt they are, but also the anti-Peronists frightened by Javier Milei’s anarcho-turbo-capitalism. He announces a government of national unity and asks for the support of all “without distinction of parties”.
