Sergio Massa of Unión Por la Patria won with more than 36% of the votes and will participate in the ballotage on 19 November (Image from Sergio Massa’s Instagram).
Argentinians will have to wait 27 days to find out who will be their next president. On 19 November, the second round of voting will take place between the two candidates who received the most votes on Sunday.
Sergio Massa, Minister of Economy in Alberto Fernández government, won with 36.63% of the votes, beating the ultra-liberal economist Javier Milei, who received just under 30% of the votes.
In August, when the candidates were defined in the Open, Simultaneous and Mandatory Primaries, Massa had almost 16 percent less votes and Milei barely improved his performance on that occasion.
The Peronist stronghold of the province of Buenos Aires consolidated the victory of the ruling party, guaranteeing the re-election of Governor Axel Kicillof, with almost 45 % of the votes.
The big losers on Sunday were the leaders of Juntos por el Cambio, who with the candidacy of Macri’s former minister, Patricia Bullrich, fell short of 24 % of the vote, thus reducing their parliamentary bench. The electoral alliance is creaking and the support of the different parties that make up the alliance could be divided between support for both candidates.
Although the outcome of the ballot is uncertain, the current curves show the candidate from Tigre, Massa, with a chance of continuing to add to his project of building a new majority of national unity, which contrasts with the destructive discourse of Milei, who promises to destroy the political caste, the state, and to put an end to corporate privileges. How the electorate will be divided in 27 days’ time is the big question.
