Far-right outsider takes shock lead in Argentina primary election
A former tantric sex coach who plans to do away with Argentina’s public health and education systems, disband the central bank, dollarise the economy and allow people to sell their organs has moved a step closer to becoming the next president of Argentina after a landslide win in open primaries.
In a surprise result that has upended Argentina’s political universe, the libertarian candidate Javier Milei took 30% of the vote on Sunday with his Liberty Advances party, outpacing the hard-right candidate Patricia Bullrich of United for Change, who came second with 28%.
The Peronist candidate Sergio Massa, hand-picked by the current vicepresident and former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, came a disappointing third on 27% despite middleof-the-road, business and International Monetary Fund-friendly credentials.
It seems unlikely that Massa could win the October election in the first round, suggesting he might face an unbeatable formal or informal alliance of Bullrich and Milei in a second-round poll.
Milei, a Donald Trump-like character at first dismissed as a daytime television buffoon by the political establishment, is well positioned to win Argentina’s presidency.
Out on the street, Milei fanatics waved the yellow Gadsden flag of the US extreme right, bearing a black rattlesnake on a yellow background and the “Don’t tread on me” slogan that is a regular feature at his rallies.
Milei said: “This election will not only put an end to Kirchnerism, but also to the parasitic, larcenous, useless caste that is sinking the country.” As has become his custom, he dedicated the victory to his dead dog Conan and three surviving dogs.
Sebastián Mazzuca, an Argentinian political scientist at Johns Hopkins University, blamed the economic blunders of the incumbent government for Milei’s victory. “When the economic inefficiencies of Kirchnerist populism depleted all possible economic resources, the result was high and out-of-control inflation, poverty and suffering. For much less, other Latin American governments lost the elections. Argentina could not be different,” he said.
Argentina’s peso fell by nearly 18% on Monday morning to just over 350 per dollar, while the central bank raised the benchmark interest rate from 97% to 118%.
Milei, 52, has a wiry mane of unkempt hair and struts like a rock star during his fiery campaign appearances. He has described himself as anti-abortion and claims that global heating is a “socialist lie”.
He says students in Argentina’s free public education system are “hostages of a system of state indoctrination” and has promised to abolish sex education in schools. Milei has suggested replacing Argentina’s free public education up to and including university studies with a “voucher” system and has hinted that he would end obligatory primary schooling.
In a YouTube campaign video, Milei announced that he would disband a number of ministries that he deems unnecessary. “Culture ministry – out! Environment – out! Ministry of women and gender diversity – out! Public works – out! Science – out! Labour and social security – out! Ministry of education and indoctrination – out!” Milei yelled.
After the result on Sunday, Milei received the endorsement of fellow farright figures from neighbouring Brazil and Chile. “We have a lot of things in common,” said Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro in a video message. “We both defend family, private property, a free market … We want to make our countries great, in accordance with [the size of] our territory and population.”
José Antonio Kast, who lost the Chilean presidential election in 2021 to Gabriel Boric, tweeted his congratulations. “For the good of Argentina, may the force of freedom win and may corruption, insecurity and mediocrity be defeated,” he wrote.
Even if Milei’s party loses the presidential election, the primary result suggests it will still take eight senate seats and 35 seats in the lower house, granting his libertarian extremists ample power to push forward or block legislation.
Milei shot to daytime TV fame a few years ago as a brash economist and tantric sex coach who spoke openly about his preference for threesomes, assuring him wall-to-wall appearances on talkshows. He turned this notoriety into a political career and was elected to the lower house of congress in 2021 after founding Liberty Advances.
Milei’s antics have continued during his presidential campaign, including his proposal to legalise people selling their organs. “If women can have control over their bodies, why not everybody else?” he has said.
His running mate as vice-president is his fellow lower house legislator Victoria Villarruel, a supporter of Argentina’s 1976-83 dictatorship who has campaigned for the cessation of human rights trials.
If the Milei-Villarruel ticket wins in October, they would be inaugurated on the 40th anniversary of the return to democracy in the only country in South America that put former dictators on trial.
To Mazzuca, Milei’s surprise win is not so surprising. “The electorate punished the government for its campaign offer, which was consistently very poor, not to say offensive: hyperinflation, chronic impoverishment and mega-corruption. It also means that the opposition – the party best positioned to capitalise on that frustration – failed to seize a low-hanging fruit.”