President touted contest in Buenos Aires province – 40% of electorate – as ‘life or death battle’ but won only 34% of vote
Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, has suffered his worst electoral defeat since taking office, as he faces his administration’s most serious corruption scandal and signs that the economy is slowing.
In local legislative elections on Sunday for Buenos Aires province – home to almost 40% of the country’s electorate – the coalition led by the self-styled anarcho-capitalist was beaten by the opposition by 47% to 34%.
The result might have been trivial had Milei himself not given national weight to the vote and even the air of a plebiscite on his government, having previously described it as a “life-or-death battle” against the opposition.
Analysts say that beyond public dissatisfaction with the economic squeeze, Milei was heavily damaged by the recent revelation of an alleged corruption scheme involving the president’s powerful sister, Karina.
The president acknowledged the “clear defeat” and admittedto having made non-specific “political mistakes” that “we will accept, process and correct”.
But he said he would not “retreat by a single millimetre in government policy. The course is not only confirmed: we will accelerate and deepen it even further.”
In Sunday’s elections, only seats in Buenos Aires province were at stake – not including the capital of the same name. It had held its elections in May, which were won by the president’s party.
Milei has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. But in recent months, things have begun to go wrong for him.
“The economy has not advanced sufficiently, inflation has not been brought down in any significant way, and wages have been practically frozen,” said Tokatlian, a professor of international relations at the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires.
The government faced a cryptocurrency debacle after the president promoted an obscure token called $Libra, which soared in value following his endorsement before collapsing dramatically, prompting dozens of criminal complaints alleging fraud.
Milei also vetoed bills that would have increased pensions and disability benefits, but last week, the national congress took a step not seen in more than 20 years and overturned the president’s veto.
Signs of Milei’s growing unpopularity were already evident when, nearly two weeks ago, he was pelted with stones by demonstrators while campaigning for Sunday’s election.
Alejandro Daniel Pons, 57, an architect from Mar del Plata, voted for Milei in the 2023 presidential election but chose not to vote on Sunday because he did not want to back either the president’s party or the opposition.
“[Milei] should keep governing because he does know about economics, but he went too far in squeezing ordinary people. That mistake has now come back to haunt him at the polls,” Pons said.
Turnout was nearly 65% – about 10% lower than in the previous local polls. According to Tokatlian, those who stayed away were precisely the voters who, in 2023, had backed Milei over Peronism – the name given to Argentina’s main leftwing movement, in reference to former president Gen Juan Domingo Perón and his wife, Eva.
“This time the anger is with the government,” he said.
University student Valentina Villagra, 27, who lives in the district of Hurlingham, said that finding work has become extremely difficult, and the jobs that do exist offer very low wages.
“Faced with a government that is determined to purchase power and wipe out all the human and social rights we have built … the only possible response was Peronism,” she said.
Source: www.theguardian.com