presidential election

Argentine presidential hopeful Javier Milei — a pro-Bitcoin, anti-central bank libertarian — has won a majority of the votes in a primary election.

An Argentinian politician with a knack for supporting Bitcoin and calling for the abolishment of his country’s central bank has taken the lead in the country’s presidential primary elections.

With over 90% of the votes counted, libertarian pro-Bitcoin (BTC) candidate Javier Milei is currently leading with nearly 32% and is trailed by the conservative Together for Change (Juntos por el Cambio) party which is just under 30% according to Bloomberg data.

Meanwhile, the left-wing Union for the Homeland (Unión por la Patria) coalition — the current ruling government’s group — is third with just over 28.5% of the vote.

Libertarian and pro-#bitcoin candidate, Javier Milei, has taken a commanding lead in the Argentinian primary elections. pic.twitter.com/65XQeIVJth

— Peter McCormack‍☠️ (@PeterMcCormack) August 14, 2023

Milei created and leads the Liberty Advances (La Libertad Avanza) coalition whose views have been described as anywhere between libertarian and far-right.

Milei calls himself an anarcho-capitalist and has rallied for Argentina’s central bank to be abolished — calling it a scam, has said human organ sales should be legal and denies the existence of global warming.

Related: Argentine agency opens investigation into Worldcoin over biometric data

He has said Bitcoin is a reaction against “central bank scammers” and claimed legal tender allows politicians to scam Argentines with inflation.

Javier Milei is running for President of Argentina.

He appears to understand money, and that inflation is an unfair mechanism that advantages elites over the people and slowly robs people of their means of survival. pic.twitter.com/tj0KEztUzI

— Alex Stanczyk ∞/21m (@alexstanczyk) January 5, 2023

Such rhetoric has clearly proven popular with Argentina’s voters who are facing an annual inflation rate of 116% — the worst in over three decades that’s adding to the country’s cost of living crisis.

Argentina’s general presidential election will be held on Oct. 22, a candidate must win at least 45% of the vote to win the presidency or a final runoff vote will be triggered to take place in November.

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