Argentina! The ideas of freedom.

By Mary Williams Walsh

Any presidential election that features a leading candidate wielding a chainsaw demands further explanation. Below, News Items managing editor Mary Williams Walsh explains what happened in Argentina. Mary’s piece was first posted at Political News Items. Given yesterday’s news (see addendum), we’ve decided to re-post it here for News Items subscribers.

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Was it really such a shocker when Argentina’s Peronist minister of the economy, Sergio Massa, sailed past his anarcho-capitalist rival Javier Milei in Round One of their country’s election cycle on Sunday?

Global investors seemed to think so. Argentina’s benchmark dollar-denominated bond fell to 22 cents on the dollar on Monday. And some of Milei’s youthful supporters in Argentina said they were shocked too. Polls had led them to expect a Round One victory for their hero, and instead they got a runoff.