Despite 'Clear Defeat' in Key Buenos Aires Election, Argentina's Milei Pledges to 'Deepen' Austerity Measures
One governor called the defeat of right-wing President Javier Milei's party a "wake-up call from the citizenry."
Supporters of Fuerza Patria celebrate the winning results outside the apartment of former President of Argentina Cristina Fernandez following the legislative elections on September 7, 2025 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
(Photo by Tobias Skarlovnik/Getty Images)
Julia Conley
Sep 08, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
Voters in Argentina's Buenos Aires province on Sunday sent a clear message to right-wing President Javier Milei, delivering a decisive defeat of his La Libertad Avanza party and forcing him to concede after his party's candidate to lead the country's most populous province won just 34% of the vote.
But even as Milei admitted LLA had suffered a "clear defeat," he suggested he'll do little in the way of course correction ahead of Argentina's midterm elections scheduled for October and will instead move full grospeed ahead with his so-called "chainsaw" economic austerity measures.
Former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner advised the president, "Get out of your bubble, brother" as her progressive Peronist party's candidate, Gabriel Katapodis, won 47.4% of the vote.
"Did you see, Milei?" said Kirchner on social media. "Things are getting heavy."
But Milei said his party will not retreat "one millimeter" from its plans to slash public spending, and will "deepen and accelerate" its push for deregulation, which has also included the dismissal of tens of thousands of public employees.
Last month, the country saw mass protests after Milei vetoed a bill that would have increased pensions and disability spending. He said the legislation had been approved by Congress in an "irresponsible manner" and said the spending increases would amount to too much of the gross domestic product.
"The only way to make Argentina great again is with effort and honesty, not the same old recipes," said Milei at the time, echoing US President Donald Trump, who has also presided over mass firings of civil servants and demanded massive cuts to public spending to pay for tax cuts for the richest Americans.
While Argentina's inflation rate has gone down in the first two years of Milei's presidency, unemployment numbers are at their highest since 2021 and many Argentinians have trouble affording basics.
Axel Kicillof, the left-wing governor of Buenos Aires province, said Sunday's vote had sent an undeniable message to the president.
"The ballot boxes told Milei that public works cannot be halted. They explained to him that retirees cannot be beaten, that people with disabilities cannot be abandoned," said Kicillof.
Nacho Torres, governor of Chubut province, added that the election was a "wake-up call from the citizenry."
The Peronists now control the largest bloc in Argentina's Congress and have passed social spending measures, countering Milei' "chainsaw" agenda.
In order to make his desired cuts, Milei needs to expand his party's small minority in Congress next month. Half of the seats in the lower chamber and a third of Senate seats are in play in the upcoming elections.
Sunday's results represented "a key data point to understand the social mood—where the opposition stands, the state of Peronism, and the level of support for the government in Argentina's most important electoral district," Juan Cruz Díaz, the head of the consulting group Cefeidas Group, told The Associated Press.
How Milei reacts, Díaz added, "will be crucial to understanding the evolving political map."
Argentina's Milei suffers landslide defeat in key Buenos Aires province election
Javier Milei's recently formed La Libertad Avanza party captured just 34% of the vote in Argentina's biggest province in what the leader conceded was a "clear defeat."
Argentinian President Javier Milei suffered a sweeping setback in a key Buenos Aires provincial election on Sunday viewed as a litmus test for how well his libertarian party is set to perform in legislative elections next month.
The former TV pundit's recently formed La Libertad Avanza party scored just 34% of the vote in Argentina's biggest province, losing by a landslide to the left-leaning Peronist opposition led by former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who finished with 47% of the vote with the majority of the ballots counted late Sunday.
Milei conceded that his party's 13-point loss was a "clear defeat."
"If anyone wants to begin rebuilding and moving forward, the first thing they must do is accept the results," Milei told his supporters at the party headquarters.
He vowed to "accelerate" his libertarian reforms following the defeat. The 54-year-old has spearheaded a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023, slashing public spending and dismissing tens of thousands of public employees.
'Wake up call'
Milei needs to expand his party's tiny minority in the opposition-dominated Congress in midterms next month to fulfil his radical libertarian vision for Argentina's crisis-stricken economy.
The Peronists are now the largest bloc in Argentina's congress and have used their power to pass social spending measures that are blocking Milei's efforts to balance Argentina's budget.
Kirchner — who remains an influential Peronist leader despite a corruption conviction that has barred her from politics and placed her under house arrest — waved wildly from the balcony of her home in the country's capital.
Fernández gloated over Milei’s agonies on social media, arguing that the bribery scandal engulfing the president's influential sister would be "lethal" for his electoral prospects.
"Get out of your bubble, brother. … Things are getting heavy,” Fernández wrote.
Although Milei can boast of bringing down Argentina's triple-digit inflation over the last few months, the country's population has yet to see the economic revival the leader promised would follow his harsh austerity measures.
“While not the main national election in October, it is nonetheless a wake-up call for the government, and how it reacts will be crucial to understanding the evolving political map,” Juan Cruz Díaz, the head of Cefeidas Group, a consultancy in Buenos Aires, told AP.
“This result is a key data point to understand the social mood — where the opposition stands, the state of Peronism and the level of support for the government in Argentina’s most important electoral district,” he added.
The results also cast a spotlight on Fernández’s former protege, Axel Kicillof, the left-wing governor of Buenos Aires province and one of Milei's fiercest critics, revealing him as best positioned to take up the mantle of future Peronist leadership.
Kicillof gave a buoyant speech late Sunday in which he rebuked Milei and reminded voters what they’ve lost by swapping Peronist populism for Milei's brutal spending cuts.
“The ballot boxes told Milei that public works cannot be halted. They explained to him that retirees cannot be beaten, that people with disabilities cannot be abandoned,” he told cheering supporters.
Argentina's Milei suffers major electoral
setback as left wins Buenos Aires province
Argentina’s President Javier Milei suffered a blow Sunday as his party was trounced by the left in Buenos Aires provincial elections, a contest widely viewed as a test of his government’s support. The defeat comes on the eve of mid-term polls, raising doubts over Milei’s political momentum.
Issued on: 08/09/2025 -
By: FRANCE 24
01:55
Argentina's libertarian President Javier Milei vowed Sunday vowed to "accelerate" his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections, ahead of highly anticipated midterms.
The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023.
He acknowledged his party's "clear defeat" by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country's economic powerhouse.
A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified "mistakes" which he vowed to "correct" but said he would not be swayed "one millimeter" from his reform agenda.
"We will deepen and accelerate it," he said at a muted election night event in the resort of Mar del Plata, where he took the stage in silence, in marked contrast to his usual dramatic entrance to rock music.
Read moreOne year of Milei's Argentina: Is 'shock therapy' working?
With 91 percent of the votes counted, the center-left Fuerza Patria coalition had taken over 47 percent of the vote against nearly 34 percent for Milei's ruling La Libertad Avanza (LLA), official results showed.
Buenos Aires's votes are telling as a bellwether for Argentina. The province contributes more than 30 percent of Argentina's GDP and accounts for 40 percent of all eligible voters.
The 13-point gap between Milei's party and the left was far greater than opinion polls had predicted.
Turnout in the election was high, at around 63 percent.
The result poses major concerns for Milei, coming just six weeks before midterm elections.
Some members of his party downplayed the extent of the defeat, pointing out that the LLA had nonetheless increased its share of legislators in Buenos Aires.
01:37
'We must learn from this'
The government went into the election under a cloud following a corruption scandal at the National Disability Agency involving the president's sister and right-hand woman, Karina Milei.
In a sign of the anger among many Argentines over the affair, Milei and his sister were pelted with stones on the campaign trail outside Buenos Aires in late August, with skirmishes breaking out among supporters and opponents.
The ruling party's election drubbing comes three days after Milei suffered a major setback when Congress overturned his veto of a law increasing allowances for disabled people.
On the economic front, the self-described "anarcho-capitalist" is struggling also, despite success in fighting inflation and in erasing a fiscal deficit.
Last week, his government began selling treasury dollars to stem the depreciation of the local currency, the peso, which had been accelerating in recent weeks despite high interest rates.
"We must learn from this (election defeat)," LLA candidate Diego Valenzuela told AFP, claiming that the result "was due to not engaging in economic populism, which is new in Argentina."
His remarks were aimed at the Peronists, accused by Milei of leading South America's second-biggest economy to ruin through excessive spending and protectionism.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
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