Mauricio Macri’s party Propuesta Republicana (PRO) went its own separate way in Buenos Aires City by splitting up the elections, and is now threatening Javier Milei’s La Libertad Avanza (LLA) with an incipient organization of their own in the Buenos Aires province. The fracture could drag Casa Rosada down to an electoral defeat in the country’s biggest voting district. 

As they wait for Diego Santilli — PRO’s main candidate, with his own electoral weight in the province — Macri’s party is already designing a potential political alliance with the UCR of Buenos Aires and factions of non-Kirchnerist Peronism. “We are going to present a good proposal of our own also in the Buenos Aires province territory,” says an enthusiastic organizer in Macri’s party, following the move to split the Buenos Aires City elections and schedule them for July 6, which triggered the fury of the “forces of heaven.”

Javier Milei and Mauricio Macri, in waiting mode

In addition people in PRO are waiting for [Buenos Aires province governor] Axel Kicillof’s next move, in order to see if the local legislative elections will also be uncoupled from the national ones, which are scheduled for October. Meanwhile, the fate of the national primaries remains uncertain, although the national government’s plan to scrap them as soon as ordinary sessions restart on March 1 will be complicated without a call for extraordinary Congress sessions before that.

People close to Javier Milei fear the damaging power of Macri, who is on vacation in Cumelén, Villa La Angostura. The former president reminded Casa Rosada of PRO’s Congressional support for the Ley Bases, as well as the vetoes to the university funding and pension increase bills. This is why the head of State went out to praise the former president last weekend in a radio interview, where he stated that “he knows that doors are always open.”

Given the lack of response to their claims, PRO slammed the door first in Buenos Aires City, where Karina Milei ordered [legislators] to vote against Jorge Macri’s 2025 budget bill. Now, they threaten to divide the opposition electorate against Axel Kicillof in the province of Buenos Aires by designing a ticket of their own that would break the polarization between the ruling Peronism and LLA in the country’s main electoral district. A scenario that is similar to 2023, when the division between Carolina Pícaro (LLA) and Néstor Grindetti (PRO) facilitated Kicillof’s arrival to the governor office.

UCR event in Mar del Plata

While waiting for Kicillof’s decision on an eventual split, the Buenos Aires UCR led by Miguel Fernández and Maximiliano Abad will hold an event on the 24th in Mar del Plata. It could be the initial kick-off for the creation of a new electoral front similar to Juntos, but under a different name, so as not to repeat the brand and infuse a new air to an electoral alliance with the PRO. The location is not a coincidence. If Santilli does not confirm his potential candidacy, Mauricio Macri hopes that the mayor of Mar del Plata, Guillermo Montenegro, will lead the ticket of candidates for national deputies.

“The ball is now in Milei’s court. We are moving forward with our own structure in Buenos Aires City and we are exploring an agreement in Córdoba with Rodrigo de Loredo’s UCR,” added sources close to the former president. The national government took note of Macri’s power to cause damage, which Horacio Rodríguez Larreta and even Patricia Bullrich have already suffered firsthand, and they are trying to lower the volume of their quarrel with PRO.

A definition about PRO

When asked about his relationship with Mauricio Macri, Milei said that “we greeted each other at the end of the year” and that “everyone knows that I have great affection, respect and admiration for Macri. Apart from quarrels on other levels, no one is going to change my opinion or my affection, even if he criticizes me I am not going to get angry. It seems to me that everything is within the area of reasonable debate.”

He was also questioned about the possibility of an alliance between La Libertad Avanza and PRO for the legislative elections. The libertarian leader supported the idea of ​​absorbing Macri’s party and its top names: “He knows that my doors are always open. […] He is not alone.” Finally, he referred to the possible candidacy of Karina Milei in 2025. “The decision to run or not is hers,” he said. 

“Not only is she developing political muscle — she is also the person who protects me from the people who try to stab me in the back.”