On October 26, Diego Santilli of La Libertad Avanza snatched the province of Buenos Aires from Peronism by 0.62 points: 41.45% against 40.83% of Jorge Taiana in Fuerza Patria. The difference was just 46,600 votes. But the defeat did not come only from outside. Four Peronists who broke the unity, all outside the official ballot, added up to 6.03% of the total: votes that, if they had gone to the PJ, would have changed history.
Florencio Randazzo, Cristina Kirchner’s former Minister of the Interior and today a leader of the Peronist “third way”, got 2.23%. The man who in 2017 challenged Kirchnerism with his own front once again divided the Justicialist vote, especially in the interior, where his speech of “common sense” and federalism resonated with sectors disenchanted with Milei’s adjustment and K populism.
Santiago Cúneo, ultranationalist journalist and leader of the Nuevo Buenos Aires Party, achieved 1.4%. With a tough speech against corruption, drug trafficking and the “globalist agenda”, he captured conservative Peronism in the northern suburbs. His campaign, full of Argentine flags and criticism of Cristina and the Monetary Fund, surprised more than expected.
Alberto Samid, the mythical “Meat Czar” of Menemism, returned with 1.27%. At 77 years old, the businessman who was Secretary of Commerce in the ’90s and went through exile, returned with a patriotic message, defense of retirees and food sovereignty. His purple ballot bit hard in La Matanza and the west, where many former K opted for him over Taiana.
Fernando Gray, mayor of Esteban Echeverría since 2015 and fierce critic of La Cámpora, reaped 1.13%. After having broken with Máximo Kirchner, he put together his own list to defend municipal management and the “hard” Peronism of the mayors. In his district, where he got 21%, he weakened Fuerza Patria until it stood at 27%, facilitating the libertarian victory.
The single paper ballot allowed this unprecedented fragmentation. What in September had been a Peronist victory by 14 points evaporated in October. The PJ lost almost half a million votes compared to the provincial elections. By 2027, the internal conflict will be fierce: either it is unified, or Buenos Aires Peronism will continue to bleed from its own wounds.
