Analysis-Could Argentine radical libertarian Javier Milei win the presidency?
By Adam Jourdan, Eliana Raszewski and Anna-Catherine Brigida
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) -Argentine far-right libertarian Javier Milei shocked the country on Sunday when he won the largest share of the vote in open primary elections. Now the big question is can he repeat the trick in October general elections when it matters?
The primary, which sees all candidates compete against one another, is a good gauge of how the general election will go. Milei won 30% of the vote, just ahead of the main conservative bloc on 28% and the center-left ruling Peronists on 27%.
The firebrand economist, whose boisterous campaign rallies draws comparisons to former U.S. leader Donald Trump, could turn the political status quo on its head in Argentina. He has pledged to shutter the central bank, dollarize the economy and sharply cut state spending.
Milei, however, faces a bigger challenge to win the Oct. 22 general election, or likely a run-off in November, with some voters casting protest votes on Sunday and record low turnout, which dented the more traditional parties.
Those trends could shift in the next two months.
Economy Minister Sergio Massa, the candidate for the governing Peronist coalition, said that the primary vote was just the «first half» of the election competition, using a soccer analogy in the country of greats Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona.
«We have the second half, extra time and then penalties. And we will be fighting until the last minute,» he said after the vote, which saw his coalition, the country's top political force for decades, post its worst primary election result.
Analysts said that more people could come out to vote in October after 69.5% turnout in the primary. There is on average a 4 percentage point bump in
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