BUENOS AIRES—Argentines began to cast their ballots Sunday in a hotly contested presidential election between two candidates with starkly different views on how to pull the troubled country out of a punishing economic recession marked by a collapsing currency, growing poverty and one of the world’s highest rates of inflation. 

Polls had indicated a tossup between Economy Minister Sergio Massa and libertarian TV pundit Javier Milei. Massa, a 51-year-old lawyer who has directed the economy as inflation rose to 143%, has sought to distance himself from the unpopular ruling Peronist government, promising to deliver a “moderate and centrist” administration.