Argentina’s Fuerza Patria (“Homeland Force”) leftist coalition obtained a victory against President Javier Milei’s Liberty Advances party in Sunday’s Buenos Aires Province’s legislative elections, securing a majority in both chambers of the provincial (state) parliament.
The results were described by local outlets as a “setback” for President Milei and his policies ahead of the upcoming October 2025 national midterm elections.
Sunday’s election saw voters from the Greater Buenos Aires province head to the polls to renew half of the seats in the provincial legislature’s bicameral parliament, electing 23 out of 46 Senators and 46 deputies out of 92.
Results published by local outlets indicate that, with 99 percent of votes tallied as of Monday morning, the leftist Homeland Force coalition obtained 47.28-percent of the votes. Milei’s Liberty Advances coalition came in second place with 33.71-percent. All remaining votes are split among smaller coalitions.
Voter turnout was measured at 60.99 percent — the lowest in over 20 years, according to La Nación — which translates to roughly 8.67 million votes cast.
Homeland Force is the latest iteration of the Union for the Homeland leftist coalition that lost in the 2023 presidential elections. The coalition’s main and largest member, the Justicialist Party, is led by socialist convicted former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who is presently serving a six-year house arrest sentence after courts upheld her corruption conviction and lifetime public office ban in June.
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Argentine outlets reported that the roughly 14-point victory against the ruling Liberty Advances party in the Buenos Aires province is perceived as a victory for Buenos Aires’ leftist governor Axel Kicillof, allowing him to grasp a stronger national leadership foothold among the country’s main leftist forces — which have faced an ongoing leadership crisis since Fernández de Kirchner’s conviction, and the disastrous government of former socialist President Alberto Fernández (no relation).
Kicillof, who served as Economy Minister during Fernández de Kirchner’s administration, claimed at a leftist coalition rally late Sunday night that the results indicate that President Milei must “rectify course.” He called for a meeting with the Argentine President.
“We are in a period and an era where people and the nation are suffering greatly, but allow me to celebrate that with a ballot we are putting a stop to Javier Milei’s government,” Kicillof reportedly said. “They took our resources away from us, the national government took 12 billion pesos from us. They attacked us, they insulted us, time and time again, but we never responded with abuse; we dedicated ourselves to working for the province.”
Former president Fernández de Kirchner, also condemned Milei through a phone call.
“I would like to send my regards to the people of my beloved province of Buenos Aires. They have decided to put a limit on a president who does not seem to understand that he must govern for everyone. The president has a responsibility to listen to the people of the province, and I pray to God that he will be given the serenity and wisdom to do so,” Fernández de Kirchner said.
President Javier Milei addressed his followers and acknowledged that his party suffered “a clear defeat” in the Buenos Aires province that “must be accepted.” He promised to do everything possible to reverse these results ahead of next month’s national midterms.
Milei said that if anyone wants to start rebuilding and moving forward, the first thing they have to do is accept the results. Milei emphasized that his administration will not change course, and will instead “redouble” his fiscal balance, de-regularization, defense, and other policies.
“Ultimately, if we have made political mistakes, we will accept them, address them, and correct them, so that we can improve every day and achieve a better result on October 26. As Churchill said: ‘Success is not final, failure is not fatal; what counts is the courage to continue.’ And we will continue, embracing the ideas of freedom, because we are going to make Argentina great again,” Milei said.
“As we have said throughout the campaign: Freedom advances or Argentina retreats. Our commitment to making Argentina great again is non-negotiable,” he continued, concluding his speech with his widely-famous catchphrase, “Long live liberty, damn it!”
Argentine stocks traded on the New York Exchange reportedly began this week down following the leftists’ provincial victory, with companies experiencing stock value losses ranging from 1.7 to 16-percent.
Argentina will hold a national legislative midterm election on October 26 to renew roughly half of the national congress’ deputy seats and 24 out of the Senate’s 72 seats.
Guillermo Francos, Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers of Argentina, reportedly said on Monday morning that “It’s time to be self-critical and see where we went wrong, because macroeconomic results are not reaching the people.”
Francos reasoned that the government’s “arrogance” was one of the factors that contributed to Sunday’s electoral setback.
“Perhaps that feeling was conveyed to the people, which in general they don’t like, and that will have to be rectified,” Francos said.
The Minister said that the government will hold a Cabinet meeting to analyze the provincial results and focus on the upcoming October midterms, stressing that the election will allow the government to have the legislators it needs to “move forward with the reforms we need in Congress and the Chamber of Deputies.”
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