Since he assumed the presidency in 1946, Juan Peron's ideology, known as Peronism, has dominated the Argentinian political scene prioritizing state control of the economy, social justice reforms, and protection of national interests. Since the death of Peron in 1974, his party, the Justicialist Party, has rapidly lost its ideological unity. Many leaders strived to take the party in different directions, such as former President Carlos Menam, who advocated for a neoliberal position in Argentina, prioritizing many state owned enterprises and pegging the Peso to the Dollar at 1 to 1. Following the 2001 Argentine economic collapse in which the peg collapsed, Nestor Kirchner won the election against fellow party member Carlos Menam in 2003. Kirchner along with his wife Cristina, who was president in her own right from 2007 to 2015, cemented Kirchnerism as the ideology of the modern Justicialist Party. Kirchnerism is a socially left wing variant of Peronism advocating for many of the same economic policies and support for social justice. The ideology differs from Peronism’s traditional neutral social stances in its Social Liberal outlook. Kirchnerist presidents legalized gay marriage and abortion while in power. Since the accession of Nestor in 2003, Kirchnerist candidates have held the Presidency for 16 years, from 2003 to 2015 and again from 2019 to 2023.
A scheduled runoff between the two was cancelled as Menam withdrew before
the election. The election was subsequently awarded to Nestor Kirchner. This
was the launchpad for Kirchnerism to become a national ideology. (“Los peronistas Menem y Kirchner se disputarán la presidencia de Argentina
en una segunda vuelta”)
The Justicialist Party has held an uncontested spot at the table in Argentina. Since its founding, its role has never seriously faltered as a major party. Unlike its contemporary opponents, which fall like dominos. While still a party, their historic rival, the Civil Radical Union, collapsed as a competent national force following the 2001 economic crash. While the Justicialist Party remains a constant, its opponents have always changed, oftentimes not lasting more than a single election. Following Argentina’s economic crisis stemming from many decades of poor economic policy, Inflation reached above 50% year over year since May 2021, reaching 166% by the time of the election. Those economic difficulties lead to the election of Economist and Deputy[1] Javier Milei from the La Libertad Avanza coalition, a right wing libertarian coalition, as President. The election also found Milei with a very small legislative block and needing to rely on other similar parties for support in the Congress. Milei was inaugurated on December 10th 2023 for a 4 year term as president of Argentina.
(“Horror stories of inflation in Argentina”)
On Sunday, May 18th, the City of Buenos Aires held elections for their city legislature. Nominally a special “autonomous district”, it retains most of the powers of an official province in all but name. It elects deputies, senators and votes in national elections and has a Legislature. On Sunday, 30 out of 60 seats went up for election across the Autonomous district. Sunday’s elections represented the first in the city under the Presidency of Javier Milei. The elections, originally scheduled for October, were moved forward by mayor Jorge Macri. The Buenos Aires Times described the move as an “attempt to hurt his rivals” by splitting the dates of the National and Local elections and as an effort to turn the affair into a national event. May’s elections are also theorized to be planned as to help solve internal disputes within Macri’s Propuesta Republicana party (PRO) regarding its cooperation with Javier Milei.
(Milenioscuro) The Autonomous city of Buenos Aires as seen in dark green
serves as capital and home to the Argentine President and Congress. The
district is home to approximately 3.1 million people or about 20% of the
Metro Population of Buenos Aires.
Since 2005, The Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (CABA) has acted as a stronghold for the center-right Propuesta Republicana. Its current mayor, Jorge Macri, is the cousin of the former President Mauricio Macri and has served as mayor since December 2023. Since the mid 2000s, the city is known for its moderate and technocratic governance style during the mayoralty of Mauricio Macri and Horacio Larreta. The Americas Quarterly and Georgetown Americas institute describe the latter as putting a “moderate” style of government and pragmatic politics over political confrontation. The October 2023 elections in the city served as an antithesis to the rise of La Libertad Avanza. While La Libertad Avanza surged nationally, the voters of CABA were the only district in the entire country to not back either Milei or his Peronist opponent. Despite being from and representing the Autonomous District in the Chamber of Deputies, the city rejected Milei and seemed to reaffirm its identity as a bastion for the Propuesta Republicana and for the traditional opposition.
(Panizza) Jorge Macri won the Mayoral election in 2023 with 49.7% of the
vote. He has faced criticism from within the Propuesta Republicana including
previous mayor Horacio Larreta for policies regarding policing and many
others.
Since assuming the Office of the President in December 2023, Milei and Macri and their respective parties maintained a close relationship. While the partnership started amicably, cracks have begun to form between the two parties. A potential power-sharing deal was killed and shortly after the relationship soured between the two titans of the Argentine Right (Nugent). According to the Financial Times, Milei pushed these elections as a chance to humiliate Macri and the PRO. Among those who opposed the Alliance from the beginning was Horacio Larreta, the former Mayor of Buenos Aires from 2015 to 2023. In the Sunday elections, Horacio Larreta ran under the newly created “Volvamos Buenos Aires” coalition, a coalition of former PRO officials and current legislatures as a platform to oppose the current party’s position towards Javier Milei. The coalition was also formed in opposition to the policies of Mayor Jorge Macri, with Larreta expressing his desire to reclaim the mayoral office come 2027.
(Lorca) Recent feuds have emerged between Javier Milei and Mauricio Macri
(left) regarding an alliance between the two parties. The Rio times claims
“By January 2025, their dialogue had collapsed entirely. The upcoming May 18
elections for Buenos Aires’ legislature have become the battleground for
this feud.” (Martinez)
Sunday’s election featured a turnout of just 53%, an usually tiny figure considering Argentina's mandatory voting policy (Crucianelli). The results failed to produce a clear winner, but they produced a clear loser - Propuesta Republicana. From the City’s 2023 elections to Sunday’s, PRO’s vote share fell from 49.7% to 15.9%, placing 3rd overall. Milei’s La Libertad Avanza scored first place with 30.1% of the vote. Second was the Peronist “Es Ahora Buenos Aires” who got 27.3% of the vote. Horacio Larreta’s breakaway “Volvamos Buenos Aires” scored 4th place with 8.1% of the vote. Larreta’s coalition is described as having seriously hurt PRO in the city (Claá) delivering a serious blow to mayor Macri - his successor and fellow PRO member.
(“Tucumán Noticias”)
Following the results, the Milei-Macri feud turned public. Shortly after, Milei said “maybe he should understand that his moment has passed” of his former ally. Similarly, Macri alleged Milei was “destroying the credibility of the Presidency.” Macri also claims that Milei is turning this into a game for power saying “When (milei) talked to me about his project, I was excited, but it turned into a project for power” (Nugent) Following the results, Milei announced LLA will work to form an alliance with PRO in the influential and largest Argentine province of Buenos Aires (different from the city) whether Macri “liked it or not.” (Lorca)
(Domínguez) Patricia Bullrich, the last remaining PRO cabinet member and
their nominee for president in 2023, announced her departure from Propuesta
Republicana joining La Libertad Avanza on May 6th. Bullrich has served as
Minister of Security since December 10th 2023.
The results indicate a movement away from the traditionally established parties. Both the Peronists and PRO drew lower vote shares than they did in 2023. Sunday’s results represent a national trend of the decline of traditional anti peronist opposition. If polls are to hold, October’s results may be the worst for the traditional anti Peronist parties in history. Pressure has been put on voters to pick between Milei’s anti system approach or Kirchnerism’s anti Milei approach with both sides consolidating each's respective political aisle. The 2025 Buenos Aires legislative election served as evidence for the emergence of a contemporary de-facto two-party system in Argentina as other parties have simply failed to adapt to the changing Argentine political environment.
Works Cited
Claá, Carlos. “Horacio Rodríguez Larreta: la venganza del Topo Gigio.” Noticias perfil, 24 May 2024, https://noticias.perfil.com/noticias/politica/horacio-rodriguez-larreta-la-venganza-del-topo-gigio.phtml.
Crucianelli, Sandra. “Elecciones en CABA: la participación fue la más baja en los últimos 28 años.” Infobae, 18 May 2025, https://www.infobae.com/politica/2025/05/18/elecciones-en-caba-la-participacion-fue-la-mas-baja-en-los-ultimos-28-anos/.
Domínguez, Juan José. “¿Quién es Patricia Bullrich?” Chequeado, https://chequeado.com/personajes/quien-es-patricia-bullrich/. Accessed 25 May 2025.
“"Están conurbanizando la Ciudad", la crítica de Larreta a la gestión de seguridad de Jorge Macri.” Cuidad Nueva, https://www.nueva-ciudad.com.ar/notas/202504/56062-estan-conurbanizando-la-ciudad-la-critica-de-larreta-a-la-gestion-de-seguridad-de-jorge-macri.html.
“Horror stories of inflation in Argentina.” tipswatch, 23 March 2025, https://tipswatch.com/2025/03/23/horror-stories-of-inflation-in-argentina/.
Lorca, Javier. “Milei jubila a Macri: “Quizás deba entender que su momento pasó.”” EL PAÍS, 20 May 2025, https://elpais.com/argentina/2025-05-20/milei-jubila-a-macri-quizas-deba-entender-que-su-momento-paso.html. Accessed 22 May 2025.
“Los peronistas Menem y Kirchner se disputarán la presidencia de Argentina en una segunda vuelta.” El Mundo, 28 April 2003, https://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2003/04/27/internacional/1051477696.html.
Martinez, Juan. “Milei and Macri Clash, Splintering Argentina’s Right Wing.” Rio Times, 31 March 2025, https://www.riotimesonline.com/milei-and-macri-clash-splintering-argentinas-right-wing/.
Milenioscuro. “File:Mapa de la Gran Buenos Aires.svg.” Wikipedia, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mapa_de_la_Gran_Buenos_Aires.svg. Accessed 25 May 2025.
Nugent, Ciara. “Milei's high-stakes bid to hobble Argentina's centre-right.” Financial Times, 12 May 2025, https://www.ft.com/content/21b4bb05-1792-4940-aaab-2e418fcd4a42? Accessed 22 May 2025.
Panizza, Gullermo. “Jorge Macri: "La ludopatía es una adicción silenciosa."” cnnespanol, 29 June 2024, https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/radio/2024/06/29/jorge-macri-la-ludopatia-es-una-adiccion-silenciosa.
“Tucumán Noticias.” Facebook, 18 May 2025, https://www.facebook.com/100067221107959/posts/1010419141208780/?_rdr.
In Argentina, a Deputy is a member of the Lower house of the Argentine congress, the chamber of deputies. Elected to serve 4 year terms, each deputy is elected through a closed list proportional representation in the provinces. Milei was elected deputy in 2021 and served until his election in 2023. ↑