BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Economy Minister Sergio Massa produced a big surprise by finishing first in the opening round of Argentina’s presidential election, reflecting voters’ wariness about handing the presidency to his chief rival, a right-wing populist who upended national politics and pledged to drastically diminish the state.
Massa’s victory over Javier Milei, a chainsaw-wielding economist and freshman lawmaker, came despite the fact that on his watch inflation has surged into triple digits, eating away at purchasing power of salaries and boosting poverty. Still, he wasn’t punished in Sunday’s voting.
I’m amazed that Massa is the frontrunner despite the economic disaster Argentina is in. I’m not surprised that Milei made it in, since his brand of shitposting based politics is extremely popular these days, and has a lot of sway over the public, and I thought he’d be president one day (before he ran in this election); just not this soon.
Joke for people in the region:
Asi que podemos disfrutar más achuras argentinas, y sufrir igual que ellos cuando comen tales achuras.
I have read that Massa used a metro scheme that would display the cost of the tickets for the Buenos Aires metro if the subsidy was removed. So anyone purchasing a ticket would see the current price (around 50 pesos) and then what the price would be under Milei or Bullrich which partially explains the big switch in voters from the polls.
This is unverified social media stuff so take it critically.
For reference, we are currently paying aprox US$ 0,06 the ride
My in laws are back from BsAs and visiting this week, I’ll see if they rode the Subte