Argentine Libertarian outsider Javier Milei secures shocking win in primary elections

Far-right populist candidate and Libertarian outsider, Javier Milei, shocked Argentina's political establishment, after winning the most votes in the country's primary presidential election.

Unofficial results show that Milei, a far-right libertarian economist, won 30.5% of the vote on Sunday after almost 90% of the votes had been counted.

The biggest conservative opposition group lagged behind with 28%, and the Peronist coalition in power came in third with 27%.

With inflation at 116% and a cost-of-living crisis pushing four out of ten Argentines into poverty, the election results are a harsh rebuke to the major Together for Change conservative opposition party as well as the center-left Peronist coalition.

“We are the true opposition,” Milei said in a speech after the results. “A different Argentina is impossible with the same old things that have always failed.”

Most adults are required to cast a ballot in the primaries, and as each voter has one vote, it essentially serves as a practice run for the general election on October 22 and reveals who is the front-runner to win the president, reported Al Jazeera.

On the other hand, discontent is widespread in Argentina, with the economic crisis leaving many Argentines disillusioned with the main political parties and opening the door for Milei, who attracted support by calling for the country to replace the peso with the United States dollar.

The 52-year-old politician believes Argentina's central bank should be dissolved and is a fan of former US President Donald Trump. Additionally, he has said that sex education is a scheme to ruin families, climate change is not real, and that he would make it simpler to acquire weapons.

Party leaders at Milei's election offices in Buenos Aires's downtown expressed elation and hope that the support for their candidate would continue to rise in the months leading up to October as supporters rejoiced outside.

“I’m very happy, we’re looking for a change. We’re tired of living like this,” said 19-year-old Franco Lesertessur, “All the countries that have been dollarized ended up moving forward and stopped having inflation.”

The results “reflect people’s fatigue on the political leadership and the lack of solutions within the spaces that have been in power consecutively,” said Mariel Fornoni, the director of Management and Fit, a political consulting firm.

The lowest primary election turnout in Argentina in more than a decade occurred on Sunday with a turnout of under 70%.

Whoever wins in October, or more likely in a run-off election in November, will need to make important choices over replenishing depleting foreign reserves, increasing grain exports, controlling inflation, and how to remove a maze of currency controls.