Javier Milei, right-wing economist with a passion for Judaism, is elected president of Argentina

BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — Javier Milei, a colourful right-wing populist who has stated he wish to convert to Judaism, was elected president of Argentina on Sunday.

Early outcomes confirmed he garnered over 55% of the nationwide vote, defeating Sergio Massa, the present left-wing authorities’s economic system minister.

Milei’s passionate love of Judaism and Israel has been one of many a number of sudden qualities that Argentines and political analysts have turn out to be accustomed to throughout his fast rise over the previous yr. Milei, 53, all through his marketing campaign blamed the outgoing authorities for hovering inflation and poverty charges. That authorities included Cristina Fernández de Kirchner — who has been accused of obstructing the investigation into the 1994 AMIA Jewish middle bombing — as vp.

“Right this moment we are going to begin the rebuilding of Argentina,” Milei stated in his acceptance speech Sunday night time.

Milei, an economist and former TV and radio pundit, calls himself an anarcho-capitalist. He has promised to shut a number of authorities ministries, together with Argentina’s nationwide financial institution, a transfer that might make the nation’s foreign money the American greenback. He calls local weather change a hoax and has earned comparisons to Donald Trump.

He additionally research Torah repeatedly.

In an interview with Spain’s El Pais newspaper over the summer time, Milei talked about his research with Rabbi Shimon Axel Wahnish, who heads ACILBA, an Argentine-Moroccan Jewish neighborhood primarily based in Buenos Aires. Milei stated he has thought of changing to Judaism however worries about how Shabbat observance would conflict with the duties of the presidency.

He demonstrates his ardour for Judaism at rallies and public occasions, usually strolling out on stage to the sound of a shofar, the ram’s horn blown on Rosh Hashanah. At one rally in August, the shofar sound was accompanied on a display screen by a photograph of a person carrying a Jewish prayer scarf.

He’s additionally an outspoken supporter of Israel, having acknowledged earlier than the beginning of Israel’s conflict on Oct. 7 that he wish to make an early diplomatic journey to Jerusalem and to maneuver Argentina’s embassy to that metropolis. In one in all his remaining public appearances earlier than the election, Milei was seen waving an Israeli flag amongst a big crowd in Rosario.