Ruling coalition Unión por la Patria (UxP)’s Buenos Aires province Governor Axel Kicillof was the most voted candidate in the district with 36.4%, and secured his place in the October 22 general elections. Overall, UxP finished in a surprise third place at a national level in the Argentine primary elections, after La Libertad Avanza (LLA) and Juntos por el Cambio (JxC).

While celebrating his results in UxP’s campaign headquarters, Kicillof asked Buenos Aires province residents to “defend their rights” by not voting for right-wing candidates.

“Dictatorship, never again. We are part of a society that needs and loves democracy,” Kicillof said in the early hours of Monday morning. “A better future will not be achieved with more cuts, dynamite or chainsaws.” He was referring to comments made by his rivals in LLA and JxC, who have referred to “dynamite” and “chainsaws” to describe their proposed cuts and reforms.

He also said he was worried about the low voter turnout (66.9%) in the province. Usually, over 77% of Buenos Aires province residents vote in the primaries, and over 81% in the general elections, according to the government’s Political Electoral Observatory.

JxC was the second most voted coalition, with 32.9% of the total votes. Lanús city Mayor Néstor Grindetti (14.7%) won the primary against his contender, national Deputy Diego Santilli (14.5%) by a very narrow margin.

LLA came in third with 23.7%. However, its only candidate, national Deputy Carolina Píparo, got more votes than Grindetti and Santilli individually.

So far, 96.6% of polling stations have been counted in the province.

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Buenos Aires province, as Argentina’s most populous, is key in any election: of the nation’s 46 million inhabitants, 17.5 million live there. Of those, 10.8 million live in the Greater Buenos Aires area (also known as the conurbano), the ring of suburbs that surrounds Buenos Aires city. 

Of the three largest districts, UxP won in La Matanza and Lomas de Zamora, but lost to JxC in the provincial capital of La Plata.

UxP’s Sergio Massa was the most voted presidential candidate in the province with 23.4%. His contender within the coalition, social leader Juan Grabois, got 8.6%. In total, the ruling alliance gathered 32.1% of the presidential primary vote in the province.

JxC was the second most voted coalition in the province with 29.1%. Former Security Minister Patricia Bullrich (16.4%) beat her internal rival, Buenos Aires city Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta (12.6%).

LLA’s libertarian economist Javier Milei got 24.5% of the vote in the province and was the second most voted presidential candidate, although his coalition came third behind JxC.

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National results

At a national level, with 97.3% of the vote counted, Milei was the most voted presidential candidate with 30%. His victory came as a shock, since most polls placed him third or second.

JxC was close: 28.2% of Argentine voters chose the coalition. Bullrich got 16.7% of the vote, beating Larreta (11.3%) and securing her place in the general elections.

UxP finished third, with 27.2%. However, Massa was the second most voted candidate with 23.6%, beating Bullrich and Larreta’s individual numbers. He was behind Milei by around a million votes.

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