Argentina's economy minister, Sergio Massa, has defied the polls by securing the most votes in the first round of the presidential election on Sunday.

The electoral office said he received around 36% of the votes, beating Javier Milei, who had been considered the favorite but ended in second place with 30%.

Since none of the candidates managed to surpass 45%, or 40 percent with a 10-point margin of victory, Massa and Milei will face each other in a run-off election on November 19.

It's a sharp reversal of fortune for the right-wing populist Milei, who won the primary election in August and led most polls going into the vote. 

Different visions of the future

With inflation soaring at 140% year-on-year, more than a third of the population living in poverty, and the middle class on its knees, many voters were eager to break with the traditional parties.

But Massa's message that the government's social safety nets and subsidies are key to supporting many hard-up Argentinians seems to have hit home.

"I know that many of those who voted for us are the ones who are suffering the most," Massa said after the results. "Our country is experiencing a complex, difficult situation, full of challenges to face... I am not going to fail them."

Massa, who, as economy minister under President Alberto Fernandez, oversaw inflation that has reached triple digits for the first time since 1991, represents the ruling center-left coalition.

He has pledged to defend the peso and the Peronist social safety net, while repeatedly promising voters that "the worst is over."

Right-wing libertarian economist Javier Milei has made a name for himself by railing against the "political caste" and expressing admiration for former US President Donald Trump.

He has promised to "chainsaw" the economic status quo by abandoning the peso for the US dollar, shutting down the central bank, reducing the size of government and privatizing Argentina's state-owned enterprises.

"Today is a historic day because two-thirds voted for change. All of us who want change have to work together. We can win, take back our country, prevent our kids from leaving the country," Milei said after the vote, in an apparent overture to the voters who had backed other candidates who failed to make it to the second round and will now have to pick between the outsider and Massa. 

lo,dh/jsi (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)