Argentina’s Milei wins the Buenos Aires election with a demonstration of support

In a legislative election held in Buenos Aires on Sunday, candidates that Argentine President Javier Milei has sponsored emerged victorious, demonstrating the support for his government.

According to official results, Milei’s list of candidates, headed by his spokesperson Manuel Adorni, lead the local legislature with 30.1% of the vote after more than 99% of polling places had been counted.

“Today is a turning point for the ideas of freedom,” libertarian Milei declared on stage on Sunday night while taking his cabinet members with him to celebrate the outcomes.

Leandro Santoro, who is associated with former president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s Peronist organization and was the front-runner in most polls, was lagging behind with 27.4% of the vote.

Milei’s erstwhile ally, Silvia Lospennato, who is currently running against Milei for center-right leadership, led the PRO party’s list, which came in third with 15.9% of the vote.

Having assumed office in late 2023, Milei’s first significant electoral test was Sunday’s election for half of the 60 members in the capital’s legislature.

“It wasn’t simply a local election,” Adorni stated while on stage that. “There were two models up for election… The model of a privileged few, the model of freedom, and the model of the political class. And freedom triumphed one more today.

According to Mariel Fornoni, a political analyst at the consulting firm Management & Fit, Milei’s administration had attempted to portray Sunday’s local election as a referendum on the economic accomplishments of his government nationwide, highlighting his accomplishments in lowering inflation and achieving the nation’s first budget surplus in 14 years the previous year.

“That’s the government’s main asset,” Fornoni stated.

A significant step and indicator before the October national midterm elections is the result in Buenos Aires.