On Sunday, November 19, Argentinians will find out whether they will be governed for the next four years by a far-right firebrand, Javier Milei, or by the center-left Peronist economy minister, Sergio Massa, who has a mediocre track record. The two finalists from the first round of the presidential election on October 22 are neck and neck in the polls, with a slight advantage for the former.

On Thursday, November 16, the outsider, who only started doing politics three years ago and received 30% of the votes in the first round, closed his campaign in Cordoba, 700 kilometers northwest of Buenos Aires, at a rally attended by an impressive crowd. Meanwhile, Massa (36.8% in the first round) had chosen – in contrast to the large gatherings to which Peronism (named after former president Juan Peron, in office from 1946 to 1955 and from 1973 to 1974) is accustomed – the more hushed and intimate atmosphere of the courtyard of one of Buenos Aires's main public schools, Carlos-Pellegrini, to which the press had no access.

The campaign felt eternal. Argentinians have spent the year at the ballot box, between municipal, provincial, primary, legislative and presidential elections. Everything can be decided at the last minute, with the undecided still representing 8 to 10% of voters. Milei will certainly benefit from a large proportion of those who voted, in the first round, against Peronism – 64% of voters. In power for 16 of the last 20 years, the center-left movement – it has changed a great deal throughout its 78 years of existence – is held responsible for galloping inflation (143% in one year) and a poverty rate as high as 40%, even though it rose mainly during Mauricio Macri's center-right term in office, between 2015 and 2019.

Many of his voters believe that Milei won't have the means to carry out his most extreme projects, because he won't have enough seats in Congress. So why vote for him? "Between plague and cholera, it's hard to choose, but any candidate for change is preferable to the continuity represented by Sergio Massa and Peronism, which we no longer want," said Ana Maria Croce, 71, who works in a medical analysis laboratory.

Above all, Milei could be able to count on a transfer of votes from the right-wing candidate who came third on October 22, Patricia Bullrich, of Macri's party, Juntos por el Cambio ("Together for Change"). Both assured Milei of their support just after the first round. Bullrich obtained 6.2 million votes (23.8 %). She was present at his side on Thursday evening, on stage at the rally in Cordoba.

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