Victory for Milei in capital as La Libertad Avanza advances on PRO

President Javier Milei and his top team were celebrating on Sunday night after La Libertad Avanza stormed to first place in elections for the Buenos Aires City Legislature.

Milei’s hand-picked candidate, Presidential Spokesperson Manuel Adorni, led the national ruling party’s slate into first place. With 99.7 percent of polling stations reporting, the La Libertad Avanza candidate led with 30.13 percent of the vote.

Almost three points Adorni behind was Peronist leader Leandro Santoro, who took Es Ahora Buenos Aires to second with 27.35 percent. 

Trailing in third with 15.92 percent was PRO’s Silvia Lospennato – a devastating tally for a party that has governed Buenos Aires City since 2007 and considers the capital to be its stronghold.

“Today the yellow bastion was painted purple – and from now on, we’re going to paint the whole country in purple!” cheered Milei as he celebrated at his party’s bunker, referring to the colours that identify his party and that of the PRO. 

“Today we choose between two models,” said Adorni, alluding to Peronism. “Between the model of the caste, of privileges, that of a few; and the model of freedom.”

He invited all dissatisfied politicians to join Milei’s party – an invitation that some within PRO may now consider to be even more appealing.

Santoro, who was the favourite to finish first in most pre-election polls, asked for the result to be “put in context the result of the election.” 

He highlighted that “the PRO as a political project has ceased to represent the majority of the porteños.”

“The results are not what we expected,” admitted Lospennato, the first of the candidates to comment publicly on the results. 

She was accompanied onstage by many of the party’s leaders, including City Mayor Jorge Macri and former president Mauricio Macri, who founded the party, as she admitted defeat.

The results mean that La Libertad Avanza will gain 11 out of the 30 seats up for grabs in the City Legislature. That will make it the second-largest force in the City Legislature with 14 lawmakers, behind only the united Peronist caucus with 20.

Turnout was just 56 percent – the lowest figure recorded in a local election since 1997. That was something of a surprise, given that the torrential rains of the previous day receded and the introduction of the new BUE single electronic ballot system.

By way of comparison, turnout was 76.7 percent in the capital in the 2023 general election and 73.4 percent in the 2021 midterms.

PRO hegemony broken

The election result will be seen as a major victory for both President Milei and his sister, Presidential Chief-of-Staff Karina Milei, who has been tasked with turning La Libertad Avanza into a national force after its performance in the 2023 general election.

Recent provincial midterms elections have indicated that the libertarian force is gaining ground in the north, though its structure is still considerably less strong than Argentina’s traditional political parties.

In his victory speech, echoing the rhetoric deployed on the campaign trail, Adorni portrayed Milei’s party as the only alternative to Kirchnerism and Peronism.

He invited all dissatisfied politicians to join Milei’s party – an invitation that some within PRO may now consider to be even more appealing.

For political analyst Carlos Fara, “the hegemony of the PRO” in the capital has been “broken after 20 years.”

He considered: “perhaps it is the beginning of an end, at least [the party’s role] as a protagonist at national level.”

“Even when Milei's government has been suffering a certain wear and tear in the last five months, the truth is that it would tend to be the first minority in the midterm elections”, said the analyst in his column for Diario Popular.

Speaking in an interview with the TN news channel after the defeat, Mauricio Macri denied his party is a spent force.

The former president stated that PRO “can’t win every election” after a run of 11 straight victories in the City and 

Macri has previously criticised his ex-ally, former City mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, for fracturing the PRO vote and deciding to run under a separate banner.

In his television interview Sunday night, he accused the ex-mayor of "betraying" PRO.

Rodríguez Larreta’s Volvamos Buenos Aires front finished fourth, with 8.08 of the vote, taking a share of votes that would have considerably boosted PRO’s tally.

He was followed by the left-wing ticket headed by Vanina Biasi (Frente de Izquierda y de los Trabajadores – Unidad) on 3.16 percent and La Libertad Avanza outcast Ramiro Marra, whose UCeDé ticket took 2.62 percent, ahead of the Coalición Cívica list on 2.5 percent, which was topped by Paula Oliveto.

Also clearing two percent were Evolución, whose first candidate Lucille Levy banked 2.31 percent and Principos y Valores, with Alejandro Kim, on 2.03 percent.

MID’s Ricardo Caruso Lombardi took 1.67 percent, ahead of Yamil Santoro and Unión Porteña Libertaria on 0.62 percent.

– TIMES/AFP/PERFIL/NA