La Libertad Avanza presidential candidate Javier Milei has claimed that during Argentina's general elections on October 22 there were "irregularities" during voting which "places the result in doubt."
Without providing evidence for his claim, the libertarian lawmaker questioned the victory of his Unión por la Patria rival Sergio Massa in a televised interview with Peruvian writer and journalist Jaime Bayly.
"There were irregularities on a scale which place the result in doubt," alleged the deputy.
Consulted with a leading question as to whether the elections were "clean," Milei replied bluntly: "No, very much influenced by the government, whoever counts the votes controls everything."
Asked how he could accept the result, the La Libertad Avanza presidential candidate responded: "You cannot but the point is what other alternatives do you have."
The remarks, which are bound to cause controversy, echo electoral tactics implied by Milei’s populist predecessors in the Americas, former Brazil president Jair Bolsonaroa and former US president Donald Trump.
Attack on Massa
Milei went on to accuse Massa, his Peronist rival in the November 19 presidential run-off, of making electioneering administrative announcements in a period when such moves are already banned by electoral law.
“There is precisely the question that announcements which might have an electoral impact cannot be made and he’s been doing that recently. I believe that he has managed that very skilfully. He handed over a lot of money, spending the gross domestic product on the elections – several billion dollars,” said Milei.
As for the votes garnered by the economy minister in the presidential election’s first round, the libertarian maintained that “you have to look at it with a historical perspective."
"For Peronism, 37 percent of the vote is low, the worst election in all their history, so from my viewpoint, you have to look at it with that logic. There is a whole process of brainwashing inclining people to embrace socialist ideas,” he evaluated.
“What he [Massa] did was put money in people’s pockets. Supposing you have nothing to eat and now somebody comes along and gives you money. What do you care if that money came from the Central Bank printing banknotes? That generates inflation and the money you will receive will be less than you think,” assured Milei.
“But what’s the point? When you have a situation as miserable as Argentina with over 40 percent below the poverty line, more than 10 percent destitute and two-thirds of the under-15s impoverished, in that context, since monetary policy kicks in with a lag of around 18 months, in the short term this gives the sensation of your pocket getting much bigger and you go out and vote,” he riffed.
Argentina’s is “a perverse system,” Milei told Bayly. “We call it the model of the caste.”
– TIMES/NA
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