The two presidential candidates will face each other in the second round on November 19.
2 mins
According to still provisional results, Sergio Massa, 51 years old and candidate of the government bloc, overcame the handicap of a suffering economy and came in first with 35.9% of the votes. He is thus ahead of Javier Milei, 53, credited with 30.5%. However, Mr. Milei confirms his breakthrough since his emergence on the political scene two years ago, according to figures from the Electoral Authority.
The two men will face each other on November 19 for a second round in this country marked by the resignation of many voters in the face of more than ten years of economic stagnation.
In third position, left behind, we find the candidate of the opposition alliance Patricia Bullrich, a former Minister of Security and protégé of the former liberal president Mauricio Macri (2015-2019), with 23.6% of the votes.
Read alsoArgentina: “Javier Milei is a far-right candidate with ultra-liberal policies”
“ I really hope he doesn’t win »
This result is a disappointment for supporters of the ultraliberal candidate. “ The best for the country would have been for Milei to be elected this evening because the uncertainty will continue. There is always more hunger and inflation and some people think that Massa will lift them out of poverty, but it doesn’t work like that. The country will not have a new opportunity. I have a lot of friends who have left and it breaks my heart. I don’t want to leave but for that Milei has to win. If Massa is elected, I will sell everything as quickly as possible and try to set up my business in Spain or in another country », Confides Luciano Cobla, a 29-year-old entrepreneur who voted for Javier Milei.
For other voters, if they are delighted to see their candidate in first place, they are worried to see the conservative candidate having so much impact in public opinion. “ This is the first time that we have had a candidacy as openly right-wing as that of Javier Milei. This raises a lot of fear and a lot of uncertainty about what could happen “, shares Jonathan Rivero, a resident of La Boca, an emblematic working-class neighborhood of Buenos Aires. And to add: “ I really hope he doesn’t win “.
(With AFP)
Read alsoIn Argentina, resigned voters vote to elect their next president