MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina's PASO elections: Milei's victory narrower than thought

All three main spaces were merely 2.58 percentage points apart in the end

Libertarian contender Javier Milei's victory in the Aug. 13 Mandatory, Open, and Simultaneous Primary (PASO) elections in Argentina was not as appalling as it seemed, it was reported Thursday in Buenos Aires after the final vote count was released.

Preliminary results on election day had shown La Libertad Avanza (LLA) strongly ahead of Juntos por el Cambio (JxC) and Unión por la Patria (UP) but in the end LLA for 29.86 % of the votes (Milei), followed by JxC's 28% (Patricia Bullrich -winner- and Horacio Roiodríguez Larreta combined), and UP's (Sergio Massa -winner- and Juan Grabois combined) 27.28%.

Incumbent Córdoba Governor Juan Schiaretti (Hacemos por Nuestro País) got 3.71% and Myriam Bregman (Frente de Izquierda) took 2.61%. These were the five only political forces to cross the 1.5% threshold and qualify for the Oct. 22 first round.

According to preliminary data overruled by Thursday's figures, Milei had taken 30.04%, JxC 28.27%, and UP 27.27%.

In addition to a turnout below 70%, on Aug. 13 there were 1,356,480 blank votes (5.51%) and 309,807 invalid votes (1.24%).

The new scenario with all three main spaces merely 2.58 percentage points apart opens up a new dimension of possibilities ahead of the presidential elections. No candidate would appear to be headed for a first-round decisive victory while advancing to the Nov. 19 runoff seems to be a matter of thoroughly counting vote by vote.

However, Milei has insisted in statements to the press that he had been “robbed of 5 points.”

“The calculations are around four or five points. That is to say, we would have obtained 35% of the votes: if we improve control and manage to convince more people to vote, we would be in a position to win in the first round,” the economist maintained.