President Javier Milei launched his party’s campaign in Buenos Aires Province on Thursday, delivering a scorching speech that branded the opposition stronghold as a “land of poverty.”
Milei was speaking ahead of local legislative elections in September and national midterms in October. Buenos Aires Province is the nation’s key battleground and a key district for Peronism, which has governed the district for 33 of the past 40 years.
“Today we have the task of bringing the model of freedom to the Province of Buenos Aires, where the same people have governed for nearly four decades,” Milei declared in the closing speech at a La Libertad Avanza party congress in La Plata, the provincial capital.
Milei claimed the region is experiencing “a disastrous present” due to the leadership of Kicillof, who he described as a “junior Stalin.”
He accused him of turning Buenos Aires Province into “a land of poverty, violence and illiteracy.”
Urging voters to back La Libertad Avanza in the September 7 elections, Milei – who was joined by several Cabinet ministers – sought to build momentum for his movement, which is seeking an upset win.
The President described LLA as “the only true vehicle for change” and contrasted his project with what he described as a system that has plunged the country into decline.
“This election isn’t one party against another. It’s civilisation or barbarism. It’s freedom or servitude. It’s the party of the state versus the party of people who work and move forward by their own efforts,” he said.
The Peronist movement, which is deeply opposed to Milei’s government, suffered a major electoral setback recently, when the courts upheld a six-year prison sentence and lifetime ban from public office for former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (2007–2015) on corruption charges.
The ruling came just a week after Fernández de Kirchner – the national chair of the Partido Justicialista (PJ), the main Peronist party – announced her candidacy for the provincial legislature. She planned to run in the region’s third electoral sector, which often votes strongly in her party’s favour.
Buenos Aires is Argentina’s largest and most populous province, home to around 17.5 million of the country’s 47 million residents.
Milei is seeking to increase his party’s presence not only in the local legislature but also in the national Congress, where his bloc currently holds 39 of 257 lower house seats and six of 72 Senate seats, along with one allied senator. Both chambers are up for renewal in October..
Recent polls give the President an approval rating of 51 percent, though most surveys place his support closer to 45 percent.
In his address, Milei sought to sharpen contrasts with Kicillof, who appears in surveys as one of Peronism’s main potential candidates for the 2027 presidential race. Kicillof is currently serving his second term (2023–2027) as governor – he cannot seek re-election after.
Milei, meanwhile, has not ruled out a bid for a second term from 2027 to 2031. Cabinet Chief Guillermo Francos said in a local radio interview on Tuesday that he was convinced “the President will seek a second term.”
– TIMES/AFP/NA
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