Harsh electoral setback for Milei in Argentina: His party lost by thirteen points in the most populous district of the country

Javier Milei suffered an electoral setback a few weeks before the mid-term elections. His party, La Libertad Avanza, lost by thirteen percentage points against Peronism in a local election in the Province of Buenos Aires, the country's most populous district. Once the results were known, the president of Argentina acknowledged a "clear defeat" and anticipated a self-criticism behind closed doors.

Peronism is the opposition party for which Cristina Kirchner was president and vice-president of the country. It is currently disputing the leadership of the space with Axel Kicillof, the governor of the Province of Buenos Aires, who is expected to compete in the 2027 presidential elections.

Although the Province of Buenos Aires is a historically Peronist area, previous polls had anticipated a relatively smaller victory, between 4 and 6 points. However, with more than 90% of the votes counted, Peronism won with 47% of the votes, against 33% for La Libertad Avanza. Of the eight electoral districts, Peronism won in six, including the two most populated ones. In this local election, councilmen, provincial deputies and senators were elected, as well as school counselors.

"Undoubtedly, on the political level today, we have had a clear defeat. If someone wants to rebuild what must be done is to accept the results, we have had an electoral setback," Milei expressed, who took the stage together with a good part of his ministers.

He also said that the government would start a stage of self-criticism, leaving the door open for strategic changes: "This will lead to a deep analysis of the results and a deep self-criticism, there is no option, we will correct all the mistakes, everything in which we have made a mistake".

In a clear message to the markets, President Milei stated that he will not alter the economic course or backtrack on the main reforms.

"We are going to maintain the fiscal balance, the exchange scheme, the deregulation policy, the Human Capital policy, Defense, we are going to continue fighting against insecurity, making reforms at the level of the legal scaffolding, the strong work that Minister (of Health) Lugones is doing. We will continue to maintain our position in the world, being on the side of good. We are not going back even one millimeter, the course is not only confirmed, but we are going to accelerate it," he continued.

Despite the defeat, Milei's party increased its number of seats in the provincial Legislature, with seven more seats in the Senate and thirteen more in the Chamber of Deputies.

The mid-term elections, where Argentines will vote for national deputies and senators, will take place on Sunday, October 26.

The Province of Buenos Aires has more than 17 million inhabitants and concentrates almost 40% of Argentina's population. In this case, the turnout was 8,100,000 people, 63% of the voter roll.

Milei's government has been dragging through a stormy few weeks, with suspicions of corruption in the National Disability Agency and Congress rejecting some of the president's vetoes.