Argentina’s primary elections closed on Sunday with a decisive win for National Deputy Javier Milei and his far-right coalition La Libertad Avanza, garnering 30.9% of the vote. 

81.6% of the polling stations are accounted for nationwide — the count is still underway in several provinces. 

The ruling coalition Unión por la Patria (UxP) came in at 21.2%. Economy Minister Sergio Massa ran as the unity presidential candidate for the ruling coalition Unión por la Patria (UxP), obtaining 26.7% of the vote. Leftist social leader Juan Grabois was left out of the race with 5.5% of the coalition vote.

Meanwhile, the opposition coalition Juntos por el Cambio (JxC) got 28% of the vote, with former Security Minister Patricia Bullrich winning against Buenos Aires City Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta with 16.9% and 11.1% of the total vote respectively.

The left-wing Frente de Izquierda (FIT), led by presidential nominee Myriam Bregman, received 1.8% of the vote.

The primaries, known as the PASO, are mandatory meaning that the general electorate votes on each coalition’s presidential candidate who will run in the election scheduled for October 22.

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Buenos Aires City

JxC was the most-voted coalition for the city’s mayoral election with 55.9%. BA City Government Minister and former Vicente López Mayor Jorge Macri — former president Mauricio Macri’s cousin — won the primary with 28.7%. His contender within the JxC alliance, National Deputy Martín Lousteau, got 27.2% of the vote, with 99% of the vote counted in the city.

“Today we once again have this great opportunity to direct this government, God willing, and the destinies of this city,” said Macri, alluding to his cousin’s first term in 2007 with the PRO. “Just like 20 years ago when this story began.”

UxP came in second place. Its only nominee, National Deputy Leandro Santoro, got 22.2% of the vote. LLA’s Ramiro Marra, also the only candidate for the coalition, came in third place with 12.9% of the vote.

A slew of technical problems with the electronic voting machines used for local elections in Buenos Aires City caused delays in the voting process in the district. Federal Judge María Servini ordered that those schools where there had been technical issues extend the 6 p.m. voting deadline to 7:30 p.m. — voters reported having waited up to two hours in some voting centers. 

BA city residents had to vote using two systems, given that the vote for national authorities is done with paper ballots.

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Buenos Aires Province

With 63.8% of the vote counted in the province, incumbent Governor Axel Kicillof (UxP) came in first place with 31.3% — retaining the ruling coalition’s vote in Argentina’s biggest province. 

Lanús’ Mayor Néstor Grindetti (14.8%) won the JxC’s primaries against his contender Diego Santilli (14.4%) by a very small margin. The opposition coalition got 29.2% combining both of the nominees’ results. LLA’s Carolina Píparo came in third with 21.7%.

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