Net defeat of Javier Milei in the elections of the province of Buenos Aires, the most important electoral district of Argentina. The president’s party, Libertad advances, has lost about 13 points against the Peronist Block Fuerza Patria. Despite being local elections, the Argentine president himself wanted to give a strongly political connotation to the vote, polarized the clash and presented these elections as a real plebiscite on his administration: for this reason, the outcome of the polls makes Milei’s political defeat even more sensational, who hoped to conquer the historic peronist bastion that represents about 40% of the national electorate.
In an already complex financial situation, Milei pays a corruption scandal that directly involved his sister Karina and on which he kept silent for the entire election campaign. Milei’s sister, according to the accusation, would have pocketed tangent on drugs to the disabled agency. “To aim for the finger and stigmatize the disabled, while your sister collects a tangent of 3% on drugs, is lethal,” wrote the former president Cristina Kirchner on social media.
Milei admitted the defeat, but he also stressed that he will not take any step back compared to his economic policy choices: «Without a doubt, politically we have undergone a clear defeat. We have to accept the results that have not been positive, “he said. But “beyond this result, I want to underline to all the Argentines that the route will not change, but double”, he added. The vote of Buenos Aires, however, is an alarm bell for Milei in view of the medium -term elections on 26 October, which will renew half of the Chamber of Deputies and a third of the Senate and the defeat could force the Milei government to rethink its strategy.
The outcome of the elections opens a new scenario also for the opposition. Former president Kirchner has exulted, but the real winner of the round is the governor of Buenos Aires Axel Kicillof. His overwhelming victory makes him a natural candidate for the presidential race of 2027.
Milei had spoken of the elections in the province of Buenos Aires as of the last nail to be affixed to the Kirchnerismò coffin. The outcome of the elections could be the first in his.