Argentine economic minister, far-right candidate head to presidential runoff

BUENOS AIRES -- Argentina's Economy Minister Sergio Massa, representing the ruling coalition Union for the Homeland and national deputy for Buenos Aires, Javier Milei, from the far-right Liberty Advances coalition, will head to the presidential runoff on Nov 19 after getting the most votes in the first round on Sunday.

According to official data released by the government, with 83.26 percent of the votes counted, Massa obtained 8,063,576 votes, or 36.15 percent, compared with 6,760,605 votes, or 30.31 percent for Milei.

November's runoff will take place because none of the candidates got 45 percent of the valid votes, or 40 percent of the vote with a difference of at least 10 percent against the second place.

According to the National Electoral Chamber, the turnout was 74 percent of a total of 35,394,425 eligible voters.