BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Argentine President Javier Melli suffered a crushing defeat on Sunday.
This is in the Buenos Aires provincial elections, which are widely seen as a political test for his liberal party.
In addition to being an indicator of his performance in the decisive midterm congressional elections next month.
Milli’s recently formed La Libertad Avanza party won only 34% of the vote in Argentina’s largest province.
He lost by a large margin to the left-wing Peronist opposition, which received 47% with the majority of votes counted late Sunday.
Milley admitted that his right-wing party’s crushing 13-point loss to its populist rivals represented a “clear defeat”.
“We have suffered a setback, and we must accept it responsibly,” Milley told supporters at party headquarters, in a reflective tone.
“If we make political mistakes, we will understand them, we will address them, and we will adjust our actions,” he said.
However, he pledged to stick to his comprehensive economic reform, saying: “There will be no retreat in government policy”.
With Milley struggling to stabilize a faltering economy, those close to him are also embroiled in a corruption scandal. This all happens ahead of the midterm congressional elections in late October. The results have been closely examined for their potential to shake investors and spark tense global markets.
Peronist leader and former president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner appears to have felt she was getting some revenge. She experienced this after being convicted of corruption and criticizing her economic management, which led to a crisis that Milley inherited.
“Did you see that, Millie?” the two-term former president (2007-2015) wrote on social media platform X. “Get out of your bubble, brother. Things are getting harder.”
