With the force of an irreversible tide, the historic stronghold of PRO in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires collapsed this Sunday. The Buenos Aires legislative election crowned Manuel Adorni, presidential spokesperson and representative of La Libertad Avanza, as the big winner of a contest that sealed the end of an 18-year hegemony of the party founded by Mauricio Macri.
The result was devastating: PRO didn't manage to win any of the 15 communes and was relegated to third place, in what is already considered the worst political defeat in its history. The main loser of the night was Silvia Lospennato, candidate of the Buenos Aires officialdom, who had presented herself as the renewed face of a worn-out PRO. Lospennato herself was forced to publicly acknowledge the setback:
"We have already received the results from our sample tables and the results are not what we expected", she confessed, in a somber tone that contrasted with the triumphalist speeches of the past.
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The defeat was accompanied by a high-impact political staging. Next to her were Jorge Macri, Mauricio Macri, and other representatives of the space, all visibly tense in the face of a result that buries a complete political cycle in the country's capital.
Attempting to cushion the blow, Lospennato stated: "In this election, we planted a seed for the future. When I told you I was the second generation of PRO, I wasn't joking.", however, her words sounded more like consolation than projection.
In an intervention that seemed to rehearse a discursive shift, the deputy also appealed to the specter of corruption and the adverse campaign climate:
"I don't want to end without telling all the citizens of Buenos Aires and the country who are fed up with corruption to be alert and vigilant."
The phrase, more accusatory than self-critical, was interpreted as an attempt to instill unfounded suspicions about the electoral process, which proceeded with complete normality and with cross-monitoring by all political forces.
She also denounced a context of "aggressions, insults, and fake news," and warned: "That's not a joke. That's something that all political leadership, but especially all citizens, must take note of. Because it doesn't do our country any good for the political discussion to turn into a discussion without the rules of democracy."
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However, the data was conclusive. In a City where PRO reigned since 2007 with the arrival of Mauricio Macri to the local Executive, and later with figures like Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, the electorate decided to change course and massively bet on the libertarian space, aligned with President Javier Milei.
The defeat directly impacts the management of Jorge Macri, current head of the Buenos Aires Government, who had attempted to shield local power by splitting the elections and provincializing the discussion. The experiment failed and left PRO without real legislative power in its own territory, now dominated by the legislators of La Libertad Avanza.
The afternoon of May 18 marked a turning point. The City of Buenos Aires, for years a symbol of the political elite PRO, chose to turn the page. Milei's project advances, and this time it swept even in the most difficult stronghold.
