Amna Nawaz:
A novice politician who's already grasped one of the profession's oldest rules: If you want a friend in politics, get a dog, or four.
For more on what Milei's win means for Argentina and beyond, we are joined by Oliver Stuenkel. He teaches international relations in Brazil and is a nonresident fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Oliver, welcome.
So why did Milei's message resonate with voters in Argentina so strongly right now?
Oliver Stuenkel, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: Hi, .
So I think that Milei's victory is not altogether surprising, because neither the center-right government of Macri between 2015 and '19, nor the center-left government of Alberto Fernandez in the — over the past four years have managed to stabilize Argentina's economy.
And, as a consequence, I think there was a sense that any change, even by a candidate who has proposed lots of radical ideas, many of which I think some of his voters don't even support, was seen as the best idea. This was a change election, a growing consensus that things cannot remain as they are.
And the big question, of course, is whether Milei will govern now as the radical that he was during the first part of this electoral campaign, or the more moderate candidate that he projected himself to be during the run-off, when he tried to attract centrist voters, which he achieved, as the results on Sunday show.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7sa7SZ6arn1%2Bjsri%2Fx6isq2ejnby4e9Woq56qo2K2r3nAq56epqSeu6J5xKWcnKxdm66zedGinqGsXaW8rbXTopqapF2kwrW%2FyJ2cq2WRqHqxvsSsoJ2dnqk%3D