In 1908, the Colón theater in Buenos Aires was inaugurated with Aidaby Giuseppe Verdi. In 2023, from the orchestra pit, a violinist began to play the chords of the Peronist March in that same Colón theater. A lot has changed in Argentina in 115 years, but no one expected such a disruption in one of the great lyrical temples of the world. It happened on Friday night, when the Colón was divided between support and boos for Javier Milei, the ultra-liberal populist candidate who had attended the function of Madame Butterfly. Nothing like this had ever happened before, politics had never entered the scene like that there before.
Hours after the Colón scandal, the authorities confirmed the arrest of five people for serious threats on social networks to the Peronist candidate, Sergio Massaand his family.
With these precedents, many Argentines feared that this Sunday in which it is decided between mercy and Massa, some things got out of control. This was not the case: the Argentine electoral system once again showed its solidity, and the speculation about fraud that began to spread in recent days Freedom Advances (LLA), Milei’s party, were proven unfounded.
“The elections are taking place normally, and that is also important after so many things that were raised,” Massa said after voting at a school in Tigre, a city 30 kilometers north of Buenos Aires. “It is an extremely important election that defines which country we are going to navigate in the next four years.”
Milei, who was wearing a black leather jacket and had her hair curly and messy, also highlighted the good progress of the elections that called 35.4 million Argentines to the polls.