Far-Right Bet Beats Foes In Argentina Primary

Argentine voters punished the country's two main political forces in a primary election on Sunday, pushing a rock-singing libertarian outsider candidate into first place in a huge shake-up in the race for the presidency in October, Nicolás Misculin, Eliana Raszewski, and Candelaria Grimberg reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: Milei is a brash outsider who has pledged to shutter the central bank and dollarize the economy.

With some 90% of ballots counted, far-right libertarian economist Javier Milei had 30.5% of the vote, far higher than predicted, with the main conservative opposition bloc behind at 28% and the ruling Peronist coalition in third place at 27%.

Most surveys showed Milei would not get 20%.

The result is a stinging rebuke to the center-left Peronist coalition and the main Together for Change conservative opposition bloc with inflation at 116% and a cost-of-living crisis leaving four in 10 people in poverty.

As polls closed in the early evening after voting system glitches caused long lines in the capital Buenos Aires, all the talk in campaign hubs was about Milei, a brash outsider who has pledged to shutter the central bank and dollarize the economy. "Milei's growth is a surprise.

This speaks of people's anger with politics," said former conservative President Mauricio Macri as he arrived at Together for Change's election bunker, Lucila Sigal, Maximilian Heath, and Jorge Otaola also reported for Reuters.

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