The Peronist Fuerza Patria cruised to victory with an ample margin against President Javier Milei’s La Libertad Avanza (LLA) in Sunday’s Buenos Aires province local legislative election, with 47% of the vote, according to preliminary results with over 90% of the vote counted. 

This marks a key win for the opposition and a tough blow for LLA. The national ruling party was aspiring to make incursions into the Peronist stronghold, but came a distant second with 34% of the vote, in the wake of allegations of corruption against top officials including Milei’s sister, Karina Milei.

Peronist Governor Axel Kicillof was all smiles at the Fuerza Patria campaign house when he stepped onto the stage, accompanied by public officials and victorious candidates. Supporters chanted for him to run for president in 2027.

During his speech, Kicillof highlighted the importance of Peronism — which has been beset with infighting — presenting a united front, which he said delivered “a crushing victory.” He also underscored the good results of splitting the election from the national vote, a decision for which he had faced biting internal criticism.

“Thank you, Sergio [Massa]! Thank you, Cristina [Kirchner], who was unfairly convicted and should be on this stage,” Kicillof said. He omitted Máximo Kirchner, who is Cristina’s son, the leader of La Cámpora, and an intense political rival.

“We know people are having a very rough time. Let us enjoy this because this is a healing happy moment and a necessary victory.”

Milei recognizes a ‘clear defeat’

Speaking minutes after 10 p.m. at his party’s campaign house in Gonnet, near the provincial capital of La Plata, President Milei acknowledged that the results were a “clear defeat.”

“Today the results were not positive. We’ve had an electoral defeat, and we have to accept it,” he said. 

However, he claimed that the results were the limit for Peronism, but the base for LLA. He added that the government would stick to its political direction.

The results are expected to cause financial turmoil when markets open on Monday. Economy Minister Luis Caputo posted to X: “Nothing will change on the economic front. Nor on the fiscal front, or the monetary front, or the exchange front.” 

Buenos Aires province residents voted on Sunday to renew seats in the provincial lower house and senate, as well as municipal council members and other local authorities.

The local election was in the spotlight this year following Kicillof’s decision to split it from the October 26 national elections.

This race is seen by many as a bellwether for public opinion ahead of October’s vote: Buenos Aires province is by far Argentina’s most populous province, with almost 40% of the electorate.

However, this win for Peronism does not mean the national results will go the same way. The suburbs immediately surrounding Buenos Aires City, known as the conurbano, are a Peronist stronghold, and LLA faced a significant challenge to gain ground there. 

Nevertheless, the results are a blow to Milei. Recent weeks have been marked by a corruption scandal involving the president’s sister and presidency secretary Karina Milei and other public officials, as well as the congressional rejection of a Milei veto on funds for the disability sector.

The province is divided into eight electoral districts, which vote for provincial lawmakers that will represent them at the local Congress. The most populous are the first and third districts. These conurbano cities are key for electoral success. Legislative seats are assigned to participating coalitions via proportional representation.

Preliminary results show a major Peronist win in all electoral districts except for the fifth and sixth, where LLA won.

The voter turnout was slightly above 60%, the lowest since the return of democracy in 1983. However, it was higher than some other provinces that split local elections from the national vote: in Santa Fe and Chaco only half of eligible voters cast a ballot.

Third place went to Somos Buenos Aires, a centrist coalition made up of dissident Peronists and members of Unión Cívica Radical, Coalición Cívica and other small parties, with 5%. The left-wing Frente de Izquierda came fourth with 4%. 

Days ago, Milei had suggested that LLA and Peronism were in a “technical tie” according to polls.

The reactions

Former President Cristina Kirchner danced and greeted her followers from the balcony of her apartment in Buenos Aires City, where she has been serving a corruption sentence under house arrest since June. She was the first Peronist leader to post about the victory, minutes after it was announced.

“See, Milei? Banalizing and vandalizing the ‘Never Again’ […] is not free,” Kirchner wrote in an X post. She was referring to the phrase the human rights movement use to condemn the atrocities of the last military dictatorship. LLA had used the phrase during the electoral campaign, saying “Kircherism, Never Again.”

“Pointing fingers and stigmatizing the disabled, while your sister gets 3% of kickbacks from their medications, is lethal,” she wrote.

Libertarian ‘self-criticism’

Sebastián Pareja, head of LLA in Buenos Aires province, was the first Libertarian to speak publicly about the defeat, describing the election as “very healthy for democracy” and saying the party would engage in “self-criticism.”

“I believe that the self-criticism involves eight different electoral processes. There were elections in eight electoral sections with different realities,” he said. “We need to think about where we made mistakes, we are willing to do that. 

Milei likewise promised “profound self-criticism.” 

“There is no room for repeating mistakes. We will mend all our mistakes,” he said, adding that the government would redouble its efforts towards fiscal balance, state deregulation, and avoiding monetary emission.

The president was flanked by most of his cabinet and other senior officials, such as his sister and secretary general Karina Milei, and lower house leader Martín Menem. The latter two were controversial additions because of their alleged involvement in the corruption scandal over state medicine contracts at the National Disability Agency. 

Striking absences included Economy Minister Luis Caputo and Chief of Staff Guillermo Francos.

“We will continue to embrace the ideas of freedom, because we will make Argentina great again,” Milei concluded.

Many of the cabinet officials surrounding him had brooding expressions.