Buenos Aires Herald 
Libertarian economist and presidential hopeful Javier Milei, leader of coalition La Libertad Avanza, said on the radio this morning that he would be willing to compete in a primary election for the presidential nomination against former Security Minister Patricia Bullrich within a potential new coalition this year.
“It’s too late [to run as Bullrich’s vice president] but it’s not so late to create a new space and compete against each other,” he told Radio Rivadavia this morning. “There’s still time.”
Milei has been planning to run as the only candidate for his coalition, and recent polling suggests he could make it to a second round in the presidential elections.
The economist got into an online fight last night against Elisa Carrió, a founder of the main opposition coalition Juntos por el Cambio (JxC) and leader of its member party, Civic Coalition, who said on TV that ex-president Mauricio Macri is not seeking to preserve the unity of the coalition but rather focusing on creating alliances with Milei.
He retweeted her message and said: “traitors, these are the caste politicians in Argentina. You’ve been hanging from Macri for twenty years to steal positions, and now you spit at him. Nothing good can come out from them.”
Milei, who has positioned himself as an outsider, refers to career politicians as “the caste” (la casta). He is famous for raffling off his government salary because he sees receiving cash from the state as illegitimate, and has claimed that if he were to become president, he’d “burn down the Central Bank”.
“I find traitors irritating,” he said on Radio Rivadavia. Later, he added: “I wouldn’t run with JxC, but I’ve said before I would have no problem in meeting them in a new structure.”
He said that, if he were to compete against other PRO candidates within a new coalition, he would “accompany” whoever won the presidential election if he didn’t win the nomination. However, he said he was not willing to run as vice president to Patricia Bullrich, the candidate furthest to the right who is running for JxC’s presidential nomination so far.
A deputy since 2021, Milei advocates for minimal State and the elimination of taxes and currency policies. His party opposes social movements and demands like feminism, climate activism, indigenous rights, and social welfare programs for the most vulnerable.
