Euphoric Milei celebrates PASO results and warns 'the caste' it's time is up

Presidential candidate for La Libertad Avanza (LLA) Javier Milei vowed to deliver sweeping change to Argentina in a celebratory speech on Sunday night after emerging with the most votes in the PASO primaries,

Milei, 52, took more than 30 percent of all votes in the primary election that determines the presidential candidates in the October 22 election.

He finished more than two points above the two candidates for the opposition Juntos por el Cambio coalition to stun the political establishment and boost his backers' hopes that the libertarian lawmaker could be the next occupant of the Casa Rosada.

"I want to thank all those who have been betting since 2021 on the creation of a liberal project and becoming a government. I want to thank all those who have joined us. We have managed to build this competitive alternative that will not only put an end to Kirchnerism. It will also put an end to the parasitic, parasitic, useless and useless political caste that is destroying this country," the economist told supporters in a victory speech at the Hotel Libertador.

"Despite the fact that we were accused of not having teams, we are the only space that made a complete and concrete presentation," argued Milei, who won the most votes off all the candidates running in the PASOs.

"We are facing the end of the caste model. That model based on the atrocity that says that where there is a need, a right is born, but forgets that someone has to pay for that right, whose maximum expression is that aberration called social justice," Milei said.

He went on to thank his election observers who had "defended tooth and nail" every vote cast for his party, despite "the continuous traps of the old politics."

Arguing that his force is the only party who wants to deliver "a real change," Milei appealed to doubters to join his mission and help him win the Presidency in October.

A relative newcomer to politics, Milei's first run for the office came in 2021, an election in which he won a seat as a national deputy representing Buenos Aires City.

Sunday's election, however, showed that support for the libertarian is strong outside the capital – Milei took more than 35 percent of the vote in Santa Fe Province, and finished top in the northern provinces of Salta, Tucumán, Jujuy and La Rioja. Strong performances were only seen in Mendoza and San Luis provinces in particular.

The right-wing liberal, who admires former US president Donald Trump and Brazilian ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, has vowed to deliver sweeping change to Argentina if elected as its next leader. Milei has proposed the elimination of the Central Bank, dollarising the economy, allowing the free carrying of arms and even defended the sale of human organs on the free market. A climate change sceptic, he has also vowed to roll-back the legalisation of abortion.

– TIMES/NA/PERFIL