Would Patricia Bullrich endorse either La Libertad Avanza’s (LxA) Javier Milei or Union por la Patria’s (UxP) Sergio Massa in a runoff election? The Juntos por el Cambio (JxC) candidate wouldn’t say during her bunker address to supporters on Sunday night. 

Bullrich finished third in Argentina’s presidential election, earning 23.8% of the vote with more than 97% of votes counted. Massa was the victor with 36.6% of the vote, while Milei finished second with just over 30%. Voters will choose between the two on November 19 to decide the next president of Argentina.

“Tonight, we didn’t achieve the goals we intended to,” Bullrich said at the JxC’s headquarters in Parque Norte. Still, she acknowledged that JxC’s cause “goes beyond an electoral moment or a defeat.”

Bullrich added that it is the coalition’s goal to increase “transparency” and that she wants Argentina to “abandon populism” so that it can “grow and end poverty.”

“Those values may have fallen asleep today, but we will wake them up every day to move toward a productive Argentina without poverty,” she added.

The JxC candidate spoke alongside vice presidential candidate Luis Petri, who was crying on the stage; former president Mauricio Macri; and Buenos Aires City Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, Bullrich’s rival in the primaries, along with other members of the coalition.

“Argentina has been in a state of decline for years,” Bullrich continued. “Populism has impoverished the country, and I am not going to be the one to congratulate the return to power of someone who has been a part of the worst part of Argentina’s history.”

Without mentioning Massa by name, the former defense minister took a separate shot at the UxP candidate and current economy minister for “giving money away” and “further indebting the country.” Massa is Argentina’s current economy minister.

“Our values are not adrift, they are not for sale, and they won’t be negotiated,” Bullrich concluded. “Let’s move toward the change Argentina needs, even though we haven’t won the elections. We’ll surely have another chance.”