Argentina went to the polls on Sunday, November 19, and elected the new president who will occupy Casa Rosada for the period 2023-2027.

The elections took place in an atmosphere of polarization that led citizens to lean towards the candidate Javier Milei.

The ultra-liberal and anti-establishment economist won the primaries by breaking Argentina’s two-tiered system and calling for “dynamizing” the Central Bank, cutting government spending, minimizing the role of the state and putting an end to the ‘political caste and thieves’. .”

Who are Javier Milei and Victoria Villarruel, the winning duo of the presidential elections in Argentina

Furthermore, it denies that there is a gender pay gap and rejects the consensus of 30,000 people disappeared during the last dictatorship (1976-1983), established by human rights organizations, estimating that figure at less than a third.

This election process comes after the restoration of relations between Argentina and Ecuador following last March’s standoff, when former minister María de los Ángeles Duarte escaped from the Argentine embassy in Quito.

Duarte is convicted of the crime of bribery in the United States Bribery case 2012-2016.

At the time, the situation provoked an exchange of comments between authorities, including President Guillermo Lasso and his Argentine counterpart Alberto Fernández, leading to the expulsion of ambassadors. Ecuador declared persona non grata to the Argentine Ambassador in Quito, Gabriel Fuks; In response, Argentina expelled Ecuadorian ambassador Xavier Monge.

The diplomatic relations were restored officially in mid-July, in the context of the Third Summit of Heads of State and Government of Celac and the European Union, held in Brussels (Belgium), in which Lasso and Fernández participated.

The leaders held a dialogue and made public their desire to restore ties between countries through the appointment of new ambassadors.

When will Javier Milei take office as President of Argentina for the period 2023-2027?

Now with a new government, which Ecuador will also have after Daniel Noboa’s victory on October 15, the country faces a new challenge.

The analyst and professor of political science and international relations at the University of the Americas (UDLA), Esteban Santos, believes that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the state portfolio that will have the most responsibility during Noboa’s administration and that it should establish. which send a very clear signal to the international community.

He added that he hoped Chancellor Gabriela Sommerfeld would surround herself with people with expertise in this field.

“The campaign that prevailed was a campaign of fear and hatred, but above all hatred, fear of continuity if Massa arrives, fear that we will continue in the spiral of inflation if Kirchnerism continues and fear of all the problems that Milei has said .” he added.

He also said that the governance scenario could be difficult for Argentina’s new president due to the radical nature of his positions and the confrontation with what he considers the political caste, whose speech has already been repeated in other countries, with not so favorable results.

Santos also emphasizes that a principle of international relations could be positioned as pragmatism.

“I believe Argentina is a huge country that has extremely serious problems. They have already exceeded 142% annualized inflation. “Ecuador is expected to have an honest foreign service and a foreign service that is technical enough that they can have a relationship regardless of which of the two tenants arrives at Casa Rosada,” he said.

For his part, diplomat Luis Gallegos added that electoral processes should be valued as “sovereign decisions, in countries that allow full democracy and therefore demand respect from the international community. Ecuador’s relations must be viewed through the prism of permanent interests and based on constitutional principles and international treaties.”

He also indicated that diplomatic relations with any elected government should continue “as long as there is a relationship based on mutual respect.” (JO)