Argentina's Economy Minister Sergio Massa concedes defeat to populist in presidential runoff [View all]

Source: AP

Argentina’s Economy Minister Sergio Massa has conceded defeat to populist Javier Milei in Sunday’s presidential runoff before the country’s electoral authority released official results.

Because the voting is conducted by paper ballots, the timing of the final result is unpredictable.

The highly polarized election will determine whether South America’s second-largest economy will continue with a center-left administration or elect a freshman lawmaker who describes himself as an anarcho-capitalist and has often been compared to former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/argentina-election-president-milei-massa-a4811c5229d35551f8dbf7056d87aae6

Argentine presidential candidates Sergio Massa, 51, and Javier Milei, 53, vote in today's presidential runoff in Argentina.

Representing the center-left governing coalition, the pragmatic Massa fell short against a neo-fascist Milei - whose runoff campaign was bolstered by an endorsement from the third-place candidate, Patricia Bullrich.

With 90% of precincts reporting, Milei led by 55.9% to 44.1%.

Milei has pledged to enact shock devaluation - leading to a likely jump in inflation from the current 8% monthly, to 55% monthly per his campaign's own prospectus.