Radical political change in Argentina and an uncertain future

Javier Milei's victory sends a clear message - Argentinians wanted change and he was the candidate most likely to deliver it.

His rise to the top was swift. A former economist and pundit, Mr Milei was relatively unknown before winning the primaries back in August.

But his brash manner, radical campaign proposals, as well as his unruly hairstyle, got him noticed.

In a country mired in economic crisis, where annual inflation is now over 140% and two in five Argentinians now live in poverty, a drastic new approach to fixing the problems was a clever move.

Many presidents before him have tried, and failed, to improve the situation so there was nothing to lose by promising something very different.

The challenge will be how he navigates a country in crisis away from campaign promises and deals with reality - trying to improve the situation for millions of Argentinians, not make it worse.

So will Argentina see the Mr Milei who's promised to destroy the central bank, slash government spending and introduce the US dollar as Argentina's official currency?

Or will there be a toned-down version of Mr Milei waiting in the wings?

And it's not just the economy that he wants to shake up.

Mr Milei has also pledged to loosen gun laws and ban abortion - this in a country which in 2020 legalised abortion and helped improve sexual and reproductive health rights for women across what has traditionally been a very conservative region.

Mr Milei has also criticised China and Brazil, saying he doesn't do business with "communists" - the two countries are Argentina's biggest trading partners.

In the wake of his victory, Brazil's President Lula da Silva stopped short of congratulating Mr Milei personally, instead offering his congratulations to the institutions who carried out the electoral process.

"Democracy is the voice of the people and that must always be respected," Lula said on X.

That sentence is likely both a diplomatic nod to the election results and a subtle dig at Mr Milei.

He and his Vice President Victoria Villaruel have repeatedly been accused of lacking respect for democracy and calling into question the official number of victims during Argentina's military dictatorship between 1976 and 1983.

All told, Mr Milei's victory is a departure for a country with a traditional scene - a scene so often dominated by the Peronist political movement.

Instead, there's a new kind of politics forming - one led by a politician often compared to former US President Donald Trump and Brazil's ex-leader Jair Bolsonaro.

So yes, Argentinians wanted change and Javier Milei said he wil deliver it - but what that change will look like is anyone's guess for now.

The only thing that is clear is that it will be unlike anything that's come before.