The Know Daily - Monday 23 October

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Lithuania has passed a law banning fur farms in the country from 2027. A majority of MPs voted in favour of the proposal, which will also see farmers compensated for the closures. “We have reached the level of maturity not to continue with activities that cause pain,” said one lawmaker before the vote.

🇦🇷 Argentina at the polls

Argentina’s centrist economy minister has defied expectations by beating his far-right populist rival in the first round of the country’s presidential election.

What’s the story?
Political outsider Javier Milei had been leading in the polls - and his supporters had hoped he was heading for a “sensational outright victory similar to Bolsonaro’s shock triumph in Brazil in 2018”, said The Guardian.

But with the majority of votes counted on Sunday night, it was establishment figure Sergio Massa who came first with more than 36% of the 26.3 million votes cast, with Milei in second place with 30%.

As no candidate received more than 45% of votes - the threshold to be elected - Massa and Milei will face each other in a run-off on 19 November.

Who are the key players - and what are the key issues?
Inflation in Argentina is nearing 140%, and many pollsters believed voters would “punish” Massa for presiding over a financial crisis, said the BBC. He has been a leading figure in the country’s centre-left administration since 2019.

Milei, in contrast, is a libertarian economist who only entered the world of politics in 2021. He has been described as an “Argentinian mashup of Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro and Boris Johnson”, said The Guardian, and has vowed to scrap the Central Bank and replace the Argentine peso with the US dollar.

“His radical proposals and fiery, profanity-laden rhetoric caused some Argentines to vote for Massa, even if less than enthused at the prospect,” said the Associated Press. Sunday’s election saw a voter turnout of 74%, according to local media.

What next?
“The result leaves Argentina poised for another month of profound uncertainty, economic turbulence and fake news before the showdown between Massa and Milei,” said The Guardian. The paper also noted that a Massa victory is not guaranteed when the country returns to the polls on 19 November.

“What appears certain, though, is that whoever wins the presidential election will have a huge job on their hands: to win over a country fed up with politics, which is filled with people desperate for their lives to improve,” said the BBC.