President Javier Milei tapped a new candidate to lead his party’s ticket in a key battleground during the midterm elections on October 26. But his face won’t be on the ballot.
The libertarian leader chose red-headed Diego Santilli to salvage his campaign in Buenos Aires Province after his original frontrunner, Josè Luis Espert, dropped out over his ties to a drug-trafficker. Milei’s party also suffered a landslide defeat in the province’s local election last month, sparking a market sell-off.
Electoral authorities ruled this week that it’s too late to print new ballots for the national congressional race. In Argentina, the colourful tickets include faces of the top two candidates and then a list of the rest. Milei had chosen bald-headed Espert and actress Karen Reichardt to grace his libertarian party’s ballot with their smiles.
Santilli – who previously represented former president Mauricio Macri’s PRO party – got creative in a campaign ad. With a marker and expanded version of a real ballot, Santilli took to social media to walk constituents through the dilemma.
On the ballot, “you’re going to find a photo of Karen and another person who dropped his candidacy,” Santilli said in a social media post Tuesday night hours after Milei met with US President Donald Trump at the White House. “To vote for the red head, mark the bald guy.”
Santilli, a lifetime politician who also once ran on a Peronist ticket, blamed “political dinosaurs” for not letting the party put his face on a new ballot.
The video sparked a mix of laughter, shock and embarrassment among Argentines on social media, and it reflected the on-the-go, patchwork approach of Milei’s party in the run-up to the national midterms.
Argentines will be voting for half the seats in the lower house of Congress and a third of the Senate. It’s Milei’s biggest electoral test since his presidential win two years ago and could determine whether the Trump administration grants Argentina a much-need US financial lifeline.
by Patrick Gillespie, Bloomberg
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