Like Cristina, Axel Kicillof also hints that Peronism could lose in the province of Buenos Aires.

Amid the internal Peronist conflict in the province of Buenos Aires, there was a common thread between Cristina Kirchner and Axel Kicillof. Although both spoke in favor of an agreement to maintain unity in these legislative elections, first the former president and then the governor's camp suggested the real possibility that the party could be headed for defeat in both the Buenos Aires elections on September 7 and the national elections on October 26.

The adverse outlook and the discussions within Peronism intensified following the Buenos Aires elections, in which Leandro Santoro failed to win despite a multi-party center-right offer. Cristina Kirchner used this result to warn that those disenchanted with Javier Milei won't necessarily return to support Peronism and to once again criticize Kicillof for the split.

The PRO's resounding defeat served as an example of the ruling party's failed strategy of calling early elections , according to the PJ leader, even though the rest of the provinces that have voted so far have seen the opposite. Maximiliano Pullaro won in Santa Fe, Claudio Poggi in San Luis, Leandro Zdero in Chaco, Carlos Sadir in Jujuy, and Gustavo Sáenz in Salta, although in the latter case La Libertad Avanza triumphed in the capital.

Kicillof's camp has been emphasizing, based on internal discussions, that Peronism in the province of Buenos Aires won in 2023 in all three races for president and also for governor. However, they are not inspiring confidence but rather caution for this year. "It's going to be a difficult election. Anti-Peronism has more weight in a legislative election," admitted a member of the Buenos Aires Cabinet.

At the beginning of the week, Carlos Bianco had busily reviewed the results of the midterm elections of the last two decades. “ The last time Peronism won was with Cristina in 2005. Beyond the fact that we will do everything possible from the Right to the Future Movement to win the provincial and national deputy elections, the important thing is to organize a political force from now on,” the Minister of Government, one of Kicillof's closest officials, told FM Milenium.

Bianco listed the defeats of Néstor Kirchner against Francisco de Narváez in 2009, Martín Insaurralde against Sergio Massa in 2013, Cristina Kirchner against Esteban Bullrich in 2017 and Victoria Tolosa Paz against Diego Santilli in 2021, and stressed that later in the executives there were mixed results: triumphs in 2011 and 2019 - and in 2023 for governor, he considered - and falls in 2015 and 2023. "In other words, what happens in 2025 is not decisive for what will happen in 2027," he concluded.

The mayors from Kicillof's camp, who are most at odds with Máximo Kirchner, even stated that if tensions between the two sides continued, they wouldn't mind a split to consolidate Kirchnerism's autonomy, even if they lost. "In Chaco, Zdero's list won with 45%, Capitanich got 33%, and the group of Peronist mayors who were separate, 11%. Who on our side is better positioned going forward? " they cited Jorge Ferraresi, mayor of Avellaneda, as an example.

The Buenos Aires government has distanced itself from that line of reasoning. "We want to win. Enough of losing while winning," one minister retorted, referring to the slogan used to cover up the 2021 decline. Kicillof will close a plenary session of the Right to a Future Movement this Saturday at the UPCN campsite in Los Hornos, La Plata, a show of force expected to include 44 mayors, union and social movement leaders, and some 10,000 people.

Due to the string of poor results for Peronism and the alarm surrounding the upcoming elections, especially in the province of Buenos Aires, Cristina Kirchner held a meeting with the PJ National Council on Tuesday . Her insistence on questioning the splitting of the party ordered by Kicillof was interpreted in La Plata as a new attempt to undermine the governor.

"It's part of a series of actions to destabilize Axel," they criticized those close to the provincial leader. They also attributed it to a way of pinning the blame on him in advance in the event of a possible defeat. " Obviously, if we lose, they'll say it's our fault. Even though we haven't won a midterm election in 20 years, and even though they've lost all six so far," they concluded.

Another concern is the low turnout recorded so far in the local elections. “ We have to explain to society what the vote is for. If Milei wins this election in the province of Buenos Aires, we'll have a majority of them in the Legislature, and when I present the Budget, they'll tell me 'no, no, here goes the chainsaw, don't do anything.' It's not a threat; where they govern, it works like that,” Kicillof said this Wednesday at the inauguration of a transformer station in Salliqueló.