Official victories and PJ setbacks in the elections in Jujuy, Salta, Chaco, and San Luis

The Super Sunday of local elections in four provinces did not disappoint the predictions of recent weeks: the ruling parties won comfortably. Voting took place in Salta, Jujuy, Chaco, and San Luis, all provinces that held separate elections from the national elections, to renew their provincial legislatures and, in some cases, elect municipal officials.

In all cases, the governors who celebrated were Gustavo Sáenz (Salta), the Radicals Carlos Sadir (Jujuy) and Leandro Zdero (Chaco), and the former Cambiemita member Claudio Poggi (San Luis). Through good dialogue with Javier Milei's government, all four managed to prevail with their alliances, counting on the advantage of facing a divided Peronist party, which marked a setback in all districts.

This election also saw the debut of La Libertad Avanza (Freedom Advances). Only in Chaco did it join the alliance with the victorious ruling party ; in the other districts, it ran on lists endorsed by the Casa Rosada (Casa Rosada), or as Libertarian Blues in the case of San Luis. It performed more than modestly, with a few notable exceptions, such as first place in the capital of Salta, and second place in the province of Jujuy , with over 20 points, which will allow it to have seven representatives in the Jujuy Legislature for the first time.

The role of the Libertarians was also under scrutiny because the strategy was carried out by their sister Karina Milei, supported by cousins ​​Martín and "Lule" Menem . Although he is not part of these groups, advisor Santiago Caputo, who neither trusts the abilities nor agrees with the power given to the Riojans, internally took credit this Sunday for the "successes" of the victory in Salta capital "without the Menems' organization" - as reported - and for the alliance with Zdero in Chaco.

There's no doubt that Milei has broad support among the electorates of three provinces, where the vote was cast this Sunday. Milei painted Salta, Jujuy, and San Luis purple on October 22, 2023, in the presidential election that sent him to the runoff —after finishing second to winner Sergio Massa. Sunday's result, in any case, showed the limits of building local options under the banner of Mileiism, and the existence of continuities that would fall under the abominable label of "the caste," always in the presidential narrative.

Perhaps it's also worth remembering that throughout 2023, Milei's local gubernatorial bids failed to take off, and they were far from the big fights. But those same electorates that didn't accept local "outsiders" later anointed the economist to reach the Casa Rosada.

In any case, this Sunday's elections were among the smallest provinces in terms of voter turnout : only Salta exceeds 3% of the national register. Together, the four provinces account for just under 9% of the national register, similar to the province of Córdoba, which is the second-largest district in the country after Buenos Aires. A common feature of this Sunday's elections was the low turnout, around 60%, which should be a wake-up call given the lack of interest and apathy of the people.

These elections were the second round of this election year, which had begun with the Santa Fe Constituent Assembly, where the Libertarians had to settle for a distant third place.

Next Sunday, a big event is coming up: the elections in the City of Buenos Aires.

In Salta, 30 deputies and 12 senators were elected, in addition to municipal positions. Thanks to the Electronic Single Ballot (implemented by then-governor Juan Manuel Urtubey in 2009), the Salta results were announced and closed very early.

Trolls in X and the Mileista officials came out to claim that they had "swept" in Salta, due to the result in the provincial capital (there were 5 points of difference between Cornejo Avellaneda - candidate of La Libertad Avanza with 35%, over Bernardo Biella, the candidate of Sáenz, second with 30.6%).

However, Governor Sáenz's alliance achieved a landslide victory at the provincial level, both for senators and deputies, maintaining their majorities in the Legislature.

In Chaco , Radical Governor Zdero, of the Juntos por el Cambio party, incorporated the Mileismo party into his electoral alliance (which includes the PRO party). He achieved his goal of stopping the PJ party, which returned to the fray with two-term governor Jorge Capitanich.

With a unicameral system, Chaco renewed half of its seats in the provincial legislature.

In San Luis, half (22) of the seats in the House of Representatives were renewed, and 4 of the 9 seats in the provincial Senate. Governor Claudio Poggi reaffirmed his comfortable provincial dominance over the Peronists united around former governor Alberto Rodríguez Saá. The two libertarian blue lists—without support from the Rosada (Presidential Palace)—were relegated to third and fourth place.

In Jujuy, the alliance led by Radical Governor Sadir, Jujuy Crece—Jujuy's version of Together for Change—scored the Libertarians by more than 15 points, and was doing well. The division within the Peronist party, which had been largely neglected, and within the Libertarians themselves, worked to their advantage.