This Sunday, November 19 at Argentina will vote in the second presidential round to elect the next head of state from among Sergio Massa, the current minister of economy, candidate for Unión por la Patria (Peronism) and who obtained the majority of the votes in the first round; and Javier Mileilibertarian economist, leader of the La Libertad Avanza party.
(Also read: Argentines enter a period of reflection for the second presidential round)
In the first round, Massa came first, with almost 37 percent of the votes, and Milei, second, with 30 percent.so the more than six million voters (24 percent) who supported the opposition candidate of the Together for Change coalition (center-right), Patricia Bullrich, will be essential.
She and former president Mauricio Macri (2015-2019) have already publicly expressed their support for Milei. And Bullrich, in fact, assured that more than 90 percent of those who voted for her in the first round will accompany her in her decision to support Milei.
(Also: The reasons why Gustavo Petro asks Argentines to vote for Sergio Massa)
Argentines living abroad have already attended the polls.
And the Argentines will face a polarizing decision between the continuity model proposed by Massa and the radical restructuring that Milei promises.
Massa, the Minister of Economy of the government of Alberto Fernández, is held responsible, in part, for the economic crisis of the country, which is experiencing inflation of 142.7 percent – one of the highest in the world – and which today has 40.1 percent of its population below the poverty line.
Milei, on the other hand, scares most traditional economists in Buenos Aires, who believe that his policy proposals, including exchanging the peso for the US dollar, could end in hyperinflation.
(We recommend you read: Final stretch for the second round in Argentina: how are Javier Milei and Sergio Massa doing?).A total of 35.8 million voters are eligible to go to the polls in these elections, in which a winner is declared by simple majority.
Former president Mauricio Macri has already voted
Former president Mauricio Macri went to the Lenguas Vivas school in the Palermo neighborhood to vote. In the midst of several people, the representative of Together for Change avoided speaking before voting.
Minor arrested for stealing ballots
Members of the Neighborhood Police Station 4A of the City Police went to Technical School No. 7, located in Zavaleta at 400, where a poll delegate reported that a 16-year-old boy was taking an excessive number of ballots from one of the the candidates when he came out of the dark room, as ‘La Nación’ learned.
The Police confirmed that the tickets belonged to Milei and she carried them in a fanny pack.
Buenos Aires represents 37% of the country’s total votes
The province of Buenos Aires is the district with the largest number of voters. This is more than a third of the national registry.
According to ‘La Nación’, some 13,110,768 people are eligible to participate today in the largest electoral district in the country. There are 38,074 tables located in 6,144 schools throughout the 135 municipalities.
Arrangements at the Milei voting station
In the first round elections, when the candidate Javier Milei came to cast his vote at the headquarters of the National Technological University (UTN) in the Almagro neighborhood, it was total chaos. The disorder caused the place to be closed for a few minutes, which harmed voters.
“A procedure was available to ensure the Milei and citizen voting. Outside is the City Police and inside the institution is the command,” said Judge María Servini.
They report delays at the airport
Some citizens claim that officials at the Ezeiza Airport, located in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area, are not quickly assisting people who travel to vote in the city.
🇦🇷 | This is now at the Ezeiza Airport, the government is not attending and is purposely delaying the entry into Argentina of all citizens who came to vote from abroad. There is a minimum two hour wait. The traps of these corrupt people began. pic.twitter.com/cMtFyDd9G6
— Agustín Antonetti (@agusantonetti) November 19, 2023
The polls are open in Argentina!
Voters today, Sunday, November 19, elect the president for the next four years between the ultra-right economist Javier Milei and the Peronist and minister Sergio Massa.
This is the card that will be given to Argentines on November 19 to elect their president.
This is what the electoral card for this Sunday, October 18, will look like.
National Electoral Chamber of Argentina
Inflation slows in October, but remains very high
Inflation remains very high in Argentina, although it slowed in October.
On Monday, the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC) reported that inflation for that month was 8.3% (in August and September it had been 12.4% and 12.7% respectively). Between October 2022 and the same month of 2023 it was 142.7%.
Football enters the campaign due to a Milei proposal
Argentine football came into politics after a proposal from Javier Milei. The candidate proposed transforming the clubs into public limited companies.
The teams affiliated with the Argentine Football Association (AFA) came out openly against the libertarian candidate. In the case of the players, the majority have chosen silence.
Reports of possible fraud
La Libertad Avanza, Javier Milei’s party, has been making allegations of possible fraud or irregular maneuvers, which could anticipate complaints from that space if it does not have a favorable result, according to the ‘AFP’ agency.
DUVÁN ÁLVAREZ AND ALEJANDRA OSPINA
ELTIEMPO.COM
