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. 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. — Euronews
