Peronists Defeat Milei in Buenos Aires Legislative Elections

The outcome in the Argentinian capital region highlighted challenges for President Javier Milei ahead of October’s midterms.

Argentine President Javier Milei speaks during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center at National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Md., on Feb. 22, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Argentina’s opposition Peronist Party emerged ahead on Sept. 7 in legislative elections in the country’s largest province, Buenos Aires, as President Javier Milei’s ruling party came in second.

The Peronists, led by Buenos Aires Gov. Axel Kicillof, a member of the center-left Justicialist Party, won 47.2 percent of the vote, against 33.7 percent for Milei’s Freedom Advances coalition.

The results come as Milei’s government works to stabilize a struggling economy while some of his associates face corruption allegations ahead of October’s congressional midterm elections.

Argentina will head to the polls again on Oct. 26 for midterm elections that will decide the balance of power in Congress.

Milei’s La Libertad Avanza Party holds 40 of the 257 seats in the lower house of Congress.

In the Senate, it controls less than 15 percent of the seats, giving Milei’s government limited legislative power.

The outcome in October will be crucial for Milei, who is seeking to strengthen his support in Congress to advance his economic reforms.

Kicillof welcomed the Buenos Aires result, describing it as a “triumph” and saying that Peronists had “put a brake on Milei’s government” after months of political clashes over resources and policy.

In a speech on Sept. 7, Kicillof rejected Milei’s leadership and spoke about spending cuts imposed by the government.

“The ballot boxes told Milei that public works cannot be halted,“ he said. ”They explained to him that retirees cannot be beaten, that people with disabilities cannot be abandoned.

“The ballot boxes shouted that education, health care, science, and culture cannot be defunded.”

Milei, elected in 2023 on a promise to tackle the country’s inflationary economy by dollarizing the peso and minimizing government spending, reaffirmed his libertarian policies after acknowledging defeat in the province.

“We suffered a setback, and we must accept it responsibly,” he said. “If we’ve made political mistakes, we’re going to internalize them, we’re going to process them, we’re going to modify our actions.”

Former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, a prominent Peronist figure who was convicted on corruption charges in 2022, welcomed the result.

“Did you see that, Milei?” she said on X. “Get out of your bubble, brother. Things are getting heavy.”

Economic Crossroads

In his 2023 campaign, Milei vowed to eliminate Argentina’s chronic fiscal deficit, which he attributed to years of Peronist mismanagement.

His administration has halved the number of federal ministries to just eight and eliminated tens of thousands of public sector jobs, about 9.6 percent of the workforce. This has resulted in significant budget savings.

In 2024, these cuts helped deliver Argentina’s first budget surplus in more than a decade.

The political setback for Milei in Buenos Aires came after Argentina reported gross domestic product growth of 7.6 percent in the second quarter of 2025, one of the strongest performances in recent history.

A Reuters poll estimated that consumer prices increased by 2 percent in August from July, slightly higher than July’s 1.9 percent.

The rise was primarily driven by rising grocery and public transport costs.

Even so, the 12-month inflation rate dropped to its lowest level in seven years.