Despite overseeing record inflation and poverty levels, Argentina's Economy Minister Sergio Massa confounded expectations by scoring the most votes in Sunday's first-round election.
He goes to a run-off against his polar opposite: the wild-haired, libertarian Javier Milei, who has vowed to take a chainsaw to Argentina's notorious public spending and dollarize the economy.Massa and the ruling Peronist movement were seen as the underdogs amid the economic shambles that has seen Argentina hit by inflation of almost 140 percent, with 40 percent of the population living in poverty.
Many economists, and the International Monetary Fund which has bailed Argentina out 22 times, agree the country needs to stop spending more than it earns. A female lawmaker candidate from his party -- who won her seat -- has proposed allowing men to renounce paternity if they did not want their child."If you think Milei's success is a sign that Argentine society has become very conservative, then you're misreading Argentine politics and society. What has made him popular is his anti-establishment rhetoric," said Gedan.
He will have to shift to the center to shore up votes, and reach out to the Juntos por El Cambio coalition which came third with almost 24 percent, after insulting its leaders throughout his campaign.
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