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Information reaching Kossyderrickent has it that Javier Milei’s party has filed 4,500 complaints throughout Argentina due to broken ballots, and instances of ballots not being counted.
“For Milei, this should be a shock,” said Ignacio Labaqui, an Argentine political analyst. Mr. Milei received nearly the same percentage of the vote as in the primary election, while Mr. Massa’s support grew after a campaign focused on the dangers of a Milei presidency. “Massa has a very strong chance to become Argentina’s next president,” Mr. Labaqui said.
Mr. Milei has dominated the national conversation in recent months with his brash outsider campaign centered on radical proposals to eliminate the nation’s central bank and replace its currency, the Argentine peso, with the U.S. dollar.
The electoral authorities advised citizens who have evidence of any irregularity to report it in the portal provided by the National Electoral Justice.
“All complaints require – as a must – the identification of the person making the complaint (anonymous complaints are not valid). Alternative channels offered by political groups, candidates or individuals, which do not validate the identity of the person making the complaint, lack legal validity and could hinder the prevention, resolution and sanctioning of the denounced maneuver,” the statement emphasized.
Mr. Massa earned 36.6 percent of the vote, to Mr. Milei’s 30 percent, with 98 percent of the votes counted. Candidates needed to surpass 45 percent, or 40 percent with a 10-point margin of victory, to avoid a runoff.
Since winning the primary election in August, Mr. Milei had been leading most polls, with Mr. Massa in second. But many voters on Sunday showed that they preferred a more familiar candidate — Mr. Massa has spent more than two decades in Argentine politics — to Mr. Milei, who has spent his career as a corporate economist and then television pundit.
The entourage of presidential candidate Javier Milei said it had received thousands of complaints of irregularities during Sunday’s presidential election, but the Electoral Tribunal responded that complaints must be filed formally and cannot be made anonymously.
“The National Electoral Chamber informs citizens that the irregularities, errors or crimes that occurred during election day must be denounced through the legal channels provided. That is, in person, before the polling station authorities, electoral delegates, federal electoral courts and federal electoral prosecutors,” reads the statement issued this Sunday.
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