A foul-mouthed, far-right populist who has been described as a cross between Boris Johnson and the killer doll Chucky is in pole position to become president of South America’s second-largest economy as Argentina chooses its next leader on Sunday against a backdrop of anti-establishment fury and economic disarray.
Election-eve polls suggest Javier Milei, a charismatic and wild-haired political outsider who found fame pontificating on television chat shows about monetary policy and sex, could sneak a first-round win, although a November runoff is likely.
At his final campaign event in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, the 53-year-old “anarcho-capitalist” addressed a packed 15,000-capacity stadium from a stage adorned with a banner proclaiming him “The Only Solution” to Argentina’s economic malaise.
In suburban Buenos Aires, Milei’s Peronist rival, the finance minister Sergio Massa, asked factory workers for support despite the slump his government has overseen, with 40% of Argentina’s 47 million citizens living in poverty amid triple-digit inflation.
The third main contender, the conservative former security minister Patricia Bullrich, denounced Milei’s “bad and dangerous” ideas, which include abolishing the central bank, loosening gun laws and even legalizing the sale of human organs.
The prospect of an Argentinian amalgam of Bolsonaro and Trump taking power has horrified progressive voters and also, apparently, Pope Francis, whom Milei has bad-mouthed as a “lefty son of a bitch”.
The original article contains 961 words, the summary contains 220 words. Saved 77%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A foul-mouthed, far-right populist who has been described as a cross between Boris Johnson and the killer doll Chucky is in pole position to become president of South America’s second-largest economy as Argentina chooses its next leader on Sunday against a backdrop of anti-establishment fury and economic disarray.
Election-eve polls suggest Javier Milei, a charismatic and wild-haired political outsider who found fame pontificating on television chat shows about monetary policy and sex, could sneak a first-round win, although a November runoff is likely.
At his final campaign event in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, the 53-year-old “anarcho-capitalist” addressed a packed 15,000-capacity stadium from a stage adorned with a banner proclaiming him “The Only Solution” to Argentina’s economic malaise.
In suburban Buenos Aires, Milei’s Peronist rival, the finance minister Sergio Massa, asked factory workers for support despite the slump his government has overseen, with 40% of Argentina’s 47 million citizens living in poverty amid triple-digit inflation.
The third main contender, the conservative former security minister Patricia Bullrich, denounced Milei’s “bad and dangerous” ideas, which include abolishing the central bank, loosening gun laws and even legalizing the sale of human organs.
The prospect of an Argentinian amalgam of Bolsonaro and Trump taking power has horrified progressive voters and also, apparently, Pope Francis, whom Milei has bad-mouthed as a “lefty son of a bitch”.
The original article contains 961 words, the summary contains 220 words. Saved 77%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!