After a crushing setback to the centre-left Peronist opposition on Sunday, President Javier Milei pledged to retain his free-market economic policy. The Peronist opposition won 47 percent of the provincial election over Milei’s La Libertad Avanza party’s 34 percent with 91 percent counted. Buenos Aires Province, the country’s largest and a Peronist bastion for decades, is a bellwether for the national midterms next month, when Milei seeks to increase his party’s minority presence in Congress to lower inflation and government spending.
From his party’s campaign headquarters near La Plata, Milei said, “Today we suffered a clear defeat.” We have an election defeat and must accept it.” In a humble speech, he committed to keep his government’s budget surplus and foreign exchange and monetary policy goals. But he promised “deep self-critique.” The Monday trading will damage Argentine investors. Traders predicted local assets to fall if Milei’s party fell by more than five points. More than a third of Argentina’s population lives in Buenos Aires Province, which has historically supported the Peronist party, including Milei’s leftist nemesis Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who was elected to the Senate there two decades ago and is now under house arrest after the top court upheld her corruption conviction
President Fernández de Kirchner, plans to run for regional senate on Sunday. She danced and waved to admirers from her capital balcony as preliminary results were broadcast, unable to run. Gabriel Katopodis, said this ended Milei. Unofficially trading at 1,400 per US dollar after closing Friday at 1,355, cryptocurrency platforms expected a peso collapse before results. Argentina’s dollar bonds dropped 5.5 percent last month, behind all emerging-market peers. “Government response will determine sell-off. Strategist Ramiro Blazquez said only a cabinet move will stem the bond market slump following the loss. Libertarians can catch up in October if they play their cards right. Blazquez said they must rethink their economic and, most importantly, political policies to regain the initiative.
In late October, about half of Congress will be re-elected. Milei’s lowest point since the self-described anarcho-capitalist gained control in late 2023 has come in recent weeks. His government’s corruption scandal began before voting. The fired ANDIS national disability agency director discussed potential pharmaceutical kickbacks for Milei’s sister Karina Milei in leaked audio recordings released last month by local media. A judge delayed Karina’s audio release. Her insider status makes her Milei’s main advisor. The administration rejects blame. The incident led to the president being stoned at one campaign visit and violence at another before voting. South America’s second-largest economy will shrink for a third month in July, and formal jobs have decreased since January. At historic lows, Argentina’s currency falls.
Sunday saw at least 63% of Buenos Aires’s 14 million eligible voters elect half of the province legislature’s 92-member Chamber of Deputies and 46-member Senate. Also offered were city council seats. Milei stopped primary elections and Peronist Buenos Aires Province Governor Axel Kicillof separated the municipal vote from the national midterm election next month, drawing national attention to the local election.