Javier Milei is turning the Argentine political landscape upside down. The 52-year-old far-right, anti-establishment economist came out on top in the presidential primaries held on Sunday, August 13, with 30% of the vote (after 95% of votes had been counted). This comes just two years after he burst into the political arena and was elected deputy for the city of Buenos Aires, under the Libertad Avanza ("freedom advances") banner. "Javier Milei is benefiting from a vote of anger and frustration, particularly among young people," said Lara Goyburu, a political scientist at the University of Buenos Aires.

These primaries are designed to pre-select the candidates who will run in the presidential election to be held in Argentina on October 22. They decide between candidates within each coalition, when there are several of them, and eliminate candidates garnering less than 1.5% of the vote.

"Long live freedom, damn it!" shouted Milei to fired-up activists on Sunday evening. In his victory speech, the populist oscillated between a professorial tone, dissecting Argentina's economic difficulties, and his customary outrageous outbursts. "We are facing the end of the [political] caste model (...) We are the ones who embody real change," he told his supporters, posing as a potential winner in the first round of the presidential election. He concluded by promising to make Argentina a "world power."

In favor of a state reduced to its strict minimum, Milei defends the freedom to bear arms and sell organs. He is resolutely climate-skeptical and rejects legal abortion, which was approved in Argentina in 2020. He displays affinities with former US president Donald Trump and former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro. With no political apparatus, he has increased alliances with local figures, though they have nonetheless achieved mediocre electoral results this year.

But even this is not enough to spur doubt amongst the supporters of a man who defines himself as an "anarcho-capitalist." In Tolosa, a working-class city in the greater Buenos Aires area, Almendra, a 28-year-old housewife, was smiling broadly earlier on Sunday as she prepared to vote for "Javier Milei, for more freedom, more security, less corruption." Her friend Maria, in her 20s, said: "We don't know who to vote for anymore. Whatever the policies, the country is still in the same situation." She was referring to inflation, which has reached 115% in one year, and poverty, which affects four out of 10 Argentines. She wanted to give a chance to the man who, in her eyes, represents change: Milei.

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