The Government of Javier Milei faces his first electoral challenge of weight on Sunday. In the elections to choose legislators from the City of Buenos Aires, the ultra -right -wing president bets strongly: not only postulates his spokesman as the first candidate of Freedom Avanza (LLA), but actively participated in the electoral campaign. Milei suspended his announced trip to the Vatican – to be in the assumption of Pope Leo XIV – because he knows that he will even celebrate his party is relegated to second place. Its objective is to win the election that defeat the PRO, the group of former president Mauricio Macri, and erect as the top leader of the broad spectrum of the right. Most of the surveys expect that it will bend to Macri, but also predicts that, in the river scrambled on the right, Peronism can fish and take the main flow of votes.
More than 2.5 million people are enabled to vote on Sunday and must choose between 17 party lists to renew 30 of the 60 members of the city’s legislature. It is a historically lower choice, but that with Milei has acquired national relevance.
The Argentine capital has been controlled territory for 18 years. Jorge Macri, cousin of the former president, is the current head of government and decided to separate – for the first time – the local elections of the nationals, scheduled for October. The decision made it clear that in Buenos Aires there would be no alliance between the right -wing parties and that the PRO would try to retain its bastion by separating public discussion through the city of the discussion by the Milei government.
The president, on the other hand, did everything possible to put himself in the center of the debate and that the election reflects his management. His candidate is spokesman Manuel Adorni and the slogan was: “Adorni is Milei.” During the last week, the spokesman of the Casa Rosada was chosen to announce measures such as immigration reform or the elimination of tariffs for the importation of mobile phones and other devices. His campaign called that “Milei’s model arrives in the city”, with the chainsaw and the drainage of the State as badges, already “bury Kirchnerism once.”
To the division of related votes between the PRO and Lla, it is added that both one and another suffered internal fractures. The Pro Postulate Ballow first to deputy Silvia Lospennato and outside Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, former head of Buenos Aires and co -founder of the party is presented. In turn, regardless of the “Libertaria” list, Ramiro Marra is presented, two years ago the candidate to govern the city.
The dispersion of the right and the extreme right favors the possibilities of Peronism, in a district that has been historically hostile. His candidate is Leandro Santoro, a leader with origin in the centrist Radical Civic Union (UCR) and behind those who align Kirchnerism and different sectors of the Justicialist Party. In her campaign, of which former president Cristina Kirchner did not participate, Santoro summoned to end “the abandonment and cruelty” of the “fratricidal” model promoted by Milei and claimed “an idea of social justice and collective project.”
Two years ago, in the last elections to govern the city, Santoro received 32% of the votes, far from 49% who chose Jorge Macri. Now, according to most surveys, it would retain a somewhat lower percentage of support – among 20 and 30% – but could take first place. The polls place in second position the man of Milei, with a similar level of accessions, and third to the candidate of the PRO, with some less points. If these results are confirmed, President Ultra may celebrate having relegated the Macri party and trust that, from now on, the scattered votes of the Buenos Aires right will come together behind him.
The outcome of the choice will begin to settle the future of the pro-lla relationship. Especially, if there will be an alliance in the strategic province of Buenos Aires – where Peronism governs – and in the national elections of October. Until today, Macri’s parliamentary support has been fundamental for a minority government in Congress, but the Buenos Aires dispute dynamited the link, with harsh accusations of either side. It is not clear how much power – and how many leaders – will be able to keep the PRO if it is defeated. Among others, his last president candidate, Patricia Bullrich, already militates in the libertarian hosts and heads the Ministry of Security.
The flow of votes that harvest lla will also be key to knowing the magnitude of the support that the president has in the most populous city in the country. Although they are legislative, the scrutiny will inevitably be compared with that of the presidential 2023, when Milei obtained 29.9% of the votes in the first round and 57.2% in the second.
The elections to renew local legislators that will be held this Sunday in the city of Buenos Aires have already been held in five Argentine provinces and will continue during the next months in different districts, until concluding in October with the national elections. For now, in all cases the lists of the provincial governors, leaders of different political signs that maintain open dialogue with the Executive were imposed.
Peronism, the main force of opposition to Milei, was fragmented and weakened, without recovering from the defeat in 2023. Freedom advances, meanwhile, could only celebrate in the Chaco: there, it was integrated into the official alliance that leads the UCR and that obtained 45% of the votes. In the provinces of Santa Fe, Salta and Jujuy, the libertarians competed alone and – except in the capital of Salta – were far from the figures gathered by Milei when he was elected. In San Luis, he directly did not appear.
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