Buenos Aires province governor Axel Kicillof formally launched his Right to the Future Movement (MDF, by its Spanish initials) with a rally on Saturday, in which he called for Peronism to unite against Javier Milei, labelling the president as “the only adversary.”

The event comes ahead of the September 7 local legislative elections in Buenos Aires province, and long-standing infighting between Kicillof and former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner — who is currently head of the Partido Justicialista (PJ), the largest Peronist party.

Kicillof’s movement, while still part of the PJ, materializes his intentions of positioning himself as a stronger leader within Peronism and potentially as a presidential candidate for the 2027 national elections. He had announced the MDF in February, but carried out its first plenary meeting on Saturday.

The Buenos Aires province — Argentina’s most populous electorate — is currently the combat field for the tensions between Kicillofism and Kirchnerism. The governor decided to suspend the primary elections in the province this year and carry out the legislative vote on a separate date from the national legislative election, scheduled for October 26.

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Local elections have garnered an unusual amount of attention this year as results have reflected an interest in national debates instead of local. Because of this, these upcoming elections could project future results for the national election.

In the Buenos Aires City elections, the local government — from right-wing party PRO — also decided to split the election and lost by a landslide to the libertarian La Libertad Avanza. After that, some Peronist sectors have questioned Kicillof’s decision to do the same in the province, which is a stronghold for the PJ. Last Tuesday, Kirchner called for a meeting of the PJ national council and reportedly analyzed the poor results Peronism got in provinces that carried out split elections.

During the Saturday event in La Plata, Kicillof said the MDF is a way of “reconnecting with the needs” of the Buenos Aires province people and that “the debate is not for a spot in the ticket, but for a spot in history.”

“We have no doubts that our only adversary is Javier Milei,” Kicillof said in front of thousands of Peronist activists in a speech after the plenary meeting. “What we must do is accompany our people and speak to them, not just to political leaders.”

With self-criticism, he added: “We have the mission to go and find the disappointed, and think about how to convince them and get them closer. This task starts today.”

Kicillof called to “join forces and put a stop to the chainsaw,” aiming for those who “lost enthusiasm or have been offended by Milei” in order to build a “political alternative.”

“Some say Milei is reorganizing the economy, but there is no order in an economy in which you can’t make ends meet, and there’s no balance if pensioners can’t buy medicine,” the governor said.

“It’s false that there’s no money. They take money away from the people to give it to corporations,” he said, adding that “the only way for this model to work is with debt,” and questioned Milei’s deal with the International Monetary Fund.

As the date for the Buenos Aires province elections gets closer, it’s still unclear who will run in the electoral race, and if Peronism will be united or have separate tickets. Kirchner, who ended her term as Vice-President of Argentina in late 2023, could potentially run for a position in the provincial legislature or in the national Congress.
After Kicillof took the spotlight weekend, it will be Kirchner’s turn to for a right of reply in an interview with the Herald’s sister channel C5N on Monday at 8 p.m.