Argentina heads for presidential runoff after vote gives lead to economy minister

BOGOTA, Colombia

Argentina headed for a runoff vote after Economy Minister Sergio Massa led over his far-right libertarian rival Javier Milei in Sunday’s presidential election but fell short of an outright majority.

With 93% of the votes counted, Massa had garnered 36.4% followed by Milei with 30.1% in results released by the country´s electoral authority.

Massa taking the lead over Milei in the first round surprised many in the South American country, which is plagued by skyrocketing inflation and increasing poverty.

Argentina is suffering from inflation of 138% and a devalued currency that has left 40% living below the poverty line. But Massa, who has received support from the governing Peronist coalition, has been criticized for not having done enough to reduce the fiscal deficit.

Milei, a radical outsider standing for the La Libertad Avanza party who had taken the lead in the August primaries, came in second on Sunday.

The outspoken right-wing economist has promised to ditch the Argentinian peso, replacing it with the US dollar, abolish the country’s central bank and sharply reduce state spending.

“We are facing a historic event, the product of the efforts of thousands of people throughout the country who have worked to push the ideas of freedom with all their strength,” said Milei, who has asked conservative candidate Patricia Bullrich’s voters to support him.

Bullrich, the candidate of the conservative alliance Together for Change, came in third with 23.6% of the vote and was left out of the race.

Massa and Milei will now face off in a second round on Nov. 19. To win, a candidate had to get more than 45% of the vote or over 40% with a more than 10-point lead over the second-place candidate.

More than 35 million Argentines were summoned to elect a president, vice president, 130 deputies and 24 senators.