The legislative election, with the lowest turnout since the return of democracy in 1983, left La Libertad Avanza as the most voted force in almost all the provinces of the country. The victory of the government also shows another fact: that of a defeated Peronism, which proves that it is not enough to stop Milei. On the other hand, the Frente de Izquierda Unidad renewed three seats: two in the province of Buenos Aires and one in CABA, places where it was the third force. Some data of an election where more than 11 million people did not vote.
The violet choice
Despite the fact that the libertarian government had gone through a very turbulent path in recent months, with corruption scandals and the economic crisis making the headlines every day, Milei managed to reap a positive result to momentarily gain some peace of mind.
The published numbers may serve as a guarantee for the government to comply with one of the demands of the contract signed with Donald Trump: to achieve a victory and from there try to continue carrying out its plan, which as always will be conditioned in perspective by the class struggle. In the immediate future, Scott Bessent ‘s interventions in the Argentine market seem to have helped. The weariness with Peronism, the governability underpinned by the “responsible opposition” and the support of its social base, are the other factors of a multi-causal triumph. The electoral results do not imply a definitive guarantee nor do they solve all the political and economic problems, but they undoubtedly give him support and a new opportunity to apply the reactionary reforms.
Milei and his force, with these results, were the most voted force in the country, especially because they won in 16 provinces, scoring important victories in CABA, Córdoba, Mendoza, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, Jujuy and Salta, to name a few. But the most important title was won in the province of Buenos Aires, beating Fuerza Patria, a party which, in spite of the objective differences existing in provincial elections, had won a resounding victory a little more than a month ago.
At the national level, the Libertarians won the majority of the votes, obtaining 64 deputies and 13 senators, while there are other numbers to see the complete map of the results of these particular elections.
In the first place, these legislative elections are the elections with the lowest turnout in the history of the country since the return of democracy in 1983. About 68%, 24,263,248 of the eligible voters voted yesterday, out of a national voter list containing 35,722,397, which shows the existence of an important dissatisfaction towards the regime and its traditional parties. To which must be added the million of votes distributed among blank and null votes.
In this context, the libertarian force, at the national level in the category of deputies, collected 9,341,798. An important figure to be taken into account and not to be ignored in any analysis. And at the same time it can be compared with previous elections. In 2023, and understanding that they were presidential, there is an account that serves to, in some way, put the current victory in its right dimension. Today, LLA is a front that was able to absorb the PRO and the numbers once achieved by the recent national senator elected for CABA, Patricia Bullrich. In that 2023, Milei managed to get 8,034,990 votes, and due to the current composition of the libertarian force, the 6,379,023 votes collected by Bullrich could be added. Then, by this sum, which results in 14,414,013 votes, we can observe a vote lower than the one obtained in the elections of the 23rd and the current ones, by a little more than five million.
In this global count, at national level, the libertarians obtain a real triumph that logically they will try to take advantage of, due to the 40.66% obtained on the basis of an important part of the population that supports them. At the same time, this percentage of votes, contrasted with the totality of the electoral roll, represents 26.1% of the people eligible to vote. An important fact to understand that Milei comes out as the winner and as the most voted force, and at the same time he does not have an overwhelming legitimacy to put into practice his program of structural reforms that go against the living conditions of the workers. Of course, it comes out with more strength to try to do so, and it will do so. It will be the development of the mobilization in the streets that will tell if it can do what it wants.
Peronism in decline
According to the results, Fuerza Patria was one of the great losers of the electoral game. Based on inaction as a way of facing Milei in these two years of management and a more conservative programmatic profile, Peronism came second in almost all the country, signing a major defeat, even in its historical bastion, the province of Buenos Aires. Very far from the punishment vote they intended to represent, in their electoral performance they obtained 44 deputies and 7 senators.
Fuerza Patria and its armed forces only managed to win in seven provinces: Formosa, Tucumán, La Rioja, Catamarca, San Juan, La Pampa and Santa Cruz.
At the national level, it managed to collect 7,284,477 votes, that is, 31.7% of the national votes, a percentage that only represents 20.3% of the electoral roll. A number of votes that shows a significant decrease in relation to previous elections, such as the results obtained in 2023 (9,853,492 in the first round and 11,598,720 in the second round).
The provincial election of September served them, momentarily, to calm the crisis they had been going through. Now, with this defeat, in spite of the discourse of unity maintained during the whole campaign, the skirmishes within the PJ are taking shape again, especially with this defeat in the province. In the district governed by Kicillof, the list headed by Espert’s image obtained 41.45% of the votes (3,605,127), beating the list headed by Taiana, which obtained 40.91% (3,558,527).
With these results, the discursive and action line that contained Grabois, Massa, Kicillof, Cristina Fernández, Máximo Kirchner and the CGT failed. Once again it is clear that calling for “dialogue with those who curtail your rights and doing nothing in the face of Milei’s plan, the IMF and Trump are not any kind of renewing political alternative for the needs of the workers.
And above all, the result shows that the PJ is very much questioned and that it is no longer going any further, that the country needs something new and completely different from this old structure and old recipes that for millions are no longer an option in the face of the libertarian chainsaw. From this we must also draw conclusions.
The Governors’ arming
The governors’ grouping, which tried to postulate itself as a third way to the polarization imposed between the LLA and the Fuerza Patria, was far from the desired effect. The force headed by governors such as Schiaretti, Llaryora, Pullaro, Nacho Torres and the radical Lousteau was positioned as the third force, with 6.95% of the votes at the national level, which allowed it to rescue eight seats in the Chamber of Deputies. The force of the provincial chiefs did not succeed in winning in any of the territories where they govern.
In Córdoba, where they expected to win, they ended up behind the Libertarian list and lost in most of the departments. La Libertad Avanza, headed by Gonzalo Roca, ended up winning with 42.35% of the votes against 28.32% obtained by Juan Schiaretti.
In Santa Fe, for example, where Governor Maximiliano Pullaro was an important part of the campaign, they did not obtain a great result either. The list of the ruling party came third, behind Fuerza Patria and LLA, only obtaining 18.32% of the votes.
Provincias Unidas, with these numbers, shows that it does not represent any kind of alternative to be an opposition to Milei’s government. All the actors that are part of this armed group, besides being the same ones that in the first part of the libertarian government voted for all the laws, were the ones that met secretly with Trump’s envoys to present themselves as other possible deliverers of the country, in case of an end of the Milei’s mandate. And they only pretended to be the serious version to implement the same strategic plan of Milei.
The election of the Left Front
In a complicated election, the FIT Unity managed to play an important role approaching 900,000 votes with around 4% of the votes. Although with some inequalities in some provinces, three seats in the Lower House were renewed.
The most important data are the elections held in CABA and in the province of Buenos Aires, where the left is the third force.
In the Capital of the country, the FIT-U won 9.11% of the votes, number that serves to renew its seat in Deputies, making Cele Fierro of the MST, share the seat as elected National Deputy, in the rotation together with Myriam Bregman (PTS). In the province of Buenos Aires, the result is also very positive. With 5.04% of the votes in the province, obtaining great results in the third section, the Frente de Izquierda becomes the third provincial force, where two seats were won. With these results, Ana Paredes Landman, our comrade of the MST, will be elected National Deputy together with Del Caño (PTS) and Del Plá (PO).
With the oxygen given by the results of these elections, Milei has already predicted the battery of structural counter-reforms he intends to apply. The reconfiguration of the Congress, in principle, shows them a different panorama from the current one, where they were a minority. Although it does not become a majority in either of the two Chambers, with the new composition it may have more parliamentary strength to comply with the requests of the IMF and the US.
Faced with this scenario, where the government promises, in terms of deepening the adjustment, the surrender and repression are renewed, on the side of the MST in the FIT-U, the promises of organization and struggle are also recharged.
From now on, the road to be prepared is the one declared by Ana Paredes Landman, in the conference of the FIT-U after knowing the results: “The seats won are points of support to continue leveraging the struggles of the workers, the youth, the women’s movement and the popular sectors. We have the responsibility, in the stage we are entering to build protagonism in the political process, in the struggle in the streets and in the perspective of setting up an alternative that prepares to be the real opposition to the ultra-right and builds the road towards an anti-capitalist and socialist solution and a government of the workers“.
RESULTS OF THE LEFT FRONT THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY
CABA: 9.1%.
BUENOS AIRES: 5.0%.
CHUBUT: 5.1%.
NEUQUÉN: 4.5%.
SANTA CRUZ: 4.8%.
TIERRA DEL FUEGO: 3.2%.
RIO NEGRO: 3.1%.
JUJUY: 9.9%.
MENDOZA: 3.4%.
SALTA: 3.2%.
CATAMARCA: 1.9%.
TUCUMAN: 1.6%.
LA RIOJA: 1.9%.
ENTRE RIOS: 2.5%.
SAN JUAN: 1.4%.
CORDOBA: 2.0%.
SANTA FE: 1.8%.
LA PAMPA: 2.0%.
SAN LUIS: 4.5%.
SANTIAGO: 1.0%.
MISSIONS: 1.4%.
CHACO: 1.3%.
FORMOSA: 1.3%.
