Buenos Aires Herald 
After months of tension and negotiations, it’s confirmed: right-wing PRO and ruling party La Libertad Avanza (LLA) will compete against each other in the 2025 Buenos Aires city legislative elections, instead of forming an alliance, as they are expected to do in Buenos Aires province.
Wednesday was the deadline for parties to confirm coalitions to the local electoral court ahead of the May 18 elections. Parties and coalitions will have to present their candidate lists on March 29, so no candidates will be formally confirmed until then. However, several parties have already announced who will lead their tickets.
PRO is allied with LLA in Argentina’s national Congress, and the parties have formally announced they are working on an electoral alliance in Buenos Aires province. However, Buenos Aires city is a crucial district for PRO: they have held power in the capital since 2007, and command a solid support base.
LLA confirmed they would run on their own in an X post on Wednesday night. “Our alliance is with porteños. With no pacts, no privileges, and without selling out our beliefs,” they wrote. “On May 18, porteños will be able to choose between more of the same, or using a chainsaw against privileges and waste of money.”
The relationship between PRO and LLA has had ups and downs since Milei took office. In Buenos Aires city, tensions rose after LLA city lawmakers voted against Mayor Jorge Macri’s 2025 budget bill. Lawmaker Ramiro Marra, one of the founders of LLA, was expelled from the party after voting for Macri’s budget.
PRO will run as part of a coalition called Buenos Aires Primero (Buenos Aires First). It includes the Movimiento Integración y Desarrollo (MID) party, which is led by national deputy Oscar Zago, a former LLA member who was kicked out of the party but remains a Milei ally. Also in the alliance are the Partido Demócrata, which was part of the LLA coalition in the 2023 presidential elections, and other small parties.
The announcements made it clear the alliance formerly known as Juntos por el Cambio is a thing of the past. The erstwhile coalition of PRO, the Unión Cívica Radical (UCR) and Coalición Cívica took Mauricio Macri to the presidency in 2015. Patricia Bullrich, former PRO leader and Milei’s Security Minister, ran for president with the coalition in 2023.
UCR formed a coalition with smaller parties and will run under the name Evolución. Coalición Cívica will run on their own, with Paula Olivetto as head of the ballot.
Former Buenos Aires mayor and PRO co-founder Horacio Rodríguez Larreta announced his candidacy days ago. He will compete against PRO after forming an alliance with fellow former Juntos por el Cambio member Graciela Ocaña, in a coalition called Volvamos Buenos Aires (Let’s return, Buenos Aires).
Peronism will field a ticket named Es Ahora Buenos Aires (It’s Time, Buenos Aires), headed by national deputy Leandro Santoro. With so many options to the right of center, Peronism could have a chance to consolidate its votes in a district where it has long stood in opposition.
