Argentina’s Milei suffers major setback in provincial vote

By AFP 8 September 2025, 4:29 am

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Argentina's President Javier Milei waves as he arrives for his speech at the Annual Meeting of World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 23, 2025. (AP Photo/ Markus Schreiber)

Argentina’s libertarian President Javier Milei suffers a major electoral setback in Buenos Aires, where his party was crushed in provincial vote seen as a key test.

With 86 percent of the votes counted, the center-left Fuerza Patria coalition has taken 46% of the vote against nearly 34% for Milei’s ruling La Libertad Avanza, voting authorities announce.

The gap between his party and the center-left Peronist movement, whose candidate he easily defeated for the presidency in October 2023, is far greater than polls had predicted.

Buenos Aires’s votes are telling as a bellweather for Argentina. The province contributes more than 30% of Argentina’s GDP and accounts for 40% of all eligible voters. Turnout in the election was high, at around 63%.