MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Milei booed at Boca Juniors elections for supporting Macri

Milei, who once tried a career in football, is not quite popular in the most popular of clubs

Argentine President Javier Milei was jeered and called names Sunday when he cast his vote for Andrés Ibarra for president of Club Atlético Boca Juniors at the iconic Bombonera stadium in Buenos Aires before leaving for the storm-hit Bahía Blanca.

Milei's efforts were fruitless as Ibarra and his running mate (former club and country President Mauricio Macri) were defeated by former Argentine international Juan Román Riquelme. It was significant proof of unpopularity for a head of state just one week into his term. In addition, Macri -whose allegiance Milei needed to prevail at the Nov. 19 runoff against Sergio Massa- was not among the 43,367 “xeneixes” who showed up from a total of 94,188 active eligible to vote.

 

 

 

 

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“Boca has to be above everyone, whether it is a leader or a football idol, and the values that we have to uphold in Boca are that there cannot be a division of the family like the one that has been generated. Today, President Milei was deliberately attacked, and we have received attacks of different types, spitting on or verbal attacks, Boca needs to recover peace and unity,” Ibarra said after conceding defeat.

The gusts of wind and rain did not prevent the normal voting in Boca. Although the conditions of the tents installed weeks ago were previously evaluated and they consulted about the weather situation, given that the alert is still in effect during the day, everything went smoothly. The highest turnout in the history of Argentine football and the second in the world, only surpassed by Barcelona in 2010 with more than 57,000 voters, was recorded.

Milei, who once tried a career in football as a goalkeeper in the junior divisions of Chacarita Juniors and San Lorenzo de Almagro, has disowned Boca in the past and was even said to have changed his favorite team due to a “disagreement” with Boca directors in the past when he became critical of the late Diego Armando Maradona for siding with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and having a tattoo of Che Guevara. Milei even called the player “Maradroga” for his drug abuse problems.