Argentina’s President Milei holds livestream raffle for his last salary as lawmaker
Fox News
The newly-elected president of Argentina raffled off his last monthly salary during a live event Friday.
President Javier Milei, the eccentric right-wing economist turned national leader, streamed the event on Instagram.
“This is the last draw for my salary as a deputy because I now got myself another job,” Milei joked during the live broadcast from the Casa Rosada presidential residence.
It is not the first raffle held by Milei — the libertarian former lawmaker has held similar lotteries every month for years, often referring to government salaries as money “stolen from the people.”
Milei intends to continue raffling off his pay every month while president.
“During my campaign for national deputy, I promised to donate my salary […] and just as I kept my word as a deputy, I am keeping my word as president,” said Milei.
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A notary supervising the raffle declared a woman named Verónica Gómez as the winner of Milei’s final salary — 2.1 million Argentine pesos (approximately $2,500).
On Nov. 19, Milei won the presidency amid a nationwide wave of deep economic discontent and rising poverty.
On the campaign trail, Milei, with his wild hair and inflammatory rhetoric, pledged economic shock therapy and to slash the size of the state.
During his inaugural address, Milei reportedly spoke about the nation’s economic emergency and sought to prepare the public for major spending cuts.
“We don’t have alternatives and we don’t have time. We don’t have a margin for sterile discussions. Our country demands action, and immediate action. The political class left the country at the brink of its biggest crisis in history,” he said to thousands of supporters in the capital, Buenos Aires, according to the Associated Press.
He added, “We don’t desire the hard decisions that will need to be made in coming weeks, but lamentably they didn’t leave us any option.”
Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report.