**Election of the "Libertad Avanza" party in Argentina: Milei's overwhelming victory**
In the 2025 elections, the "Libertad Avanza" (LA) party, led by Javier Milei, obtained 40.84% of the votes. This allowed it to win the "Open Primaries, Simultaneous and Mandatory" (PASO) with 24.50% of the vote. The result was a sensation, especially in the province of Buenos Aires, where LA leader Sebastián Pareja summed up the previous results.
The party's strategy, which agreed that candidates on all internal slates would be "liberal" candidates, was based on the need to distance itself from the regional political parties. This approach, promoted by the effective administrator Eduardo "Lule" Menem, followed by the main advisor Santiago Caputo, who proposed to close the gap with regional parties, meant that "Libertad Avanza" could capture key regions, where its support was previously weak.
**Success in the provinces and the logic of the vote** In the Córdoba province, the party obtained 42.35% of the votes, beating the "Cordobesian Unity" coalition with the governor Juan Schiaretti (28.32%). The analytical card was repeated in other provinces: - In Entre Ríos, the leader was Andres Laumann. - In San Luis, the candidate was Mónica Becerra. - In Santa Fe, the candidate was Agustín Pellegrini, a young politician, who received 35% of the votes. - Tierra del Fuego and Chubut also saw a transfer of the "liberal" vote to Agustín Pellegrini and Maira Raquel Frias, respectively.
The key factor in this success was the president Javier Milei, who, according to the polls, showed the lowest level of disapproval among candidates.
**Criticism and support within the party** Not surprisingly, LA's internal factions were opposed. Santiago Caputo, an ally of the regional parties, received a strong criticism from Karin Milei, who, regardless of the results, consistently expressed loyalty to the candidates. In his own account, Caputo called this "strange". However, behind this, the main criticism was directed at the candidates, whose positions were not consistent with the party's principles.
**The role of the Menem family** Leaders of the regional party factions, Martín Menem and Eduardo "Lule" Menem, played a key role in LA's success. Karin Milei publicly thanked them, calling them "colleagues" and "supporters." Their support helped to increase the influence of the Milei family within the party, without increasing their internal disagreements.
Thus, the 2025 elections confirmed the radical ideas of "Libertad Avanza" and their ability to consolidate support on a national level, even within the framework of the opposition's strategy.
