Argentina could get its first libertarian president

Hard rock blared from the speakers as 10,000 fans cheered. An image of a roaring lion surrounded by fire lit up the screen. Jumping on stage, a man in a leather jacket whipped the crowd into a frenzy. “I am the lion!” he cried. “I am the king in a lost world!” It was not a rock concert. The speaker was Javier Milei, a libertarian who hopes to become Argentina’s next president, at a recent rally. On August 13th Mr Milei took the most votes in national primaries, in which Argentines selected candidates to compete in presidential and legislative elections scheduled for October 22nd, with the top-scoring candidate from each party going through to the main vote. Because voting is mandatory, the poll is widely seen as the best indicator of who might win the presidency.

Argentina’s notoriously unreliable opinion polls had predicted that Together for Change, a centre-right coalition, would take the most votes, divided between its leading contenders. These are Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, the mayor of Buenos Aires, a moderate, and Patricia Bullrich, a hawkish former security minister. Sergio Massa, the main candidate of the incumbent Peronist party, was expected to get a third of votes, and Mr Milei only a fifth. Instead Mr Milei took 30% of ballots cast, compared with 28% for Ms Bullrich and Mr Larreta combined. The ruling Peronists got 27%. Mr Milei led in 16 of 24 provinces.