PASO 2021: WINNERS AND LOSERS

Ashock victory in Buenos Aires Province and an anticipated victory in the federal capital means that Buenos Aires City Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta emerges as the big winner of Sunday’s PASO primaries – despite the 55-year-old not even running. Diego Santilli and María Eugenia Vidal – the mayor’s handpicked preferences – both performed strongly in their respective districts, boosting Rodríguez Larreta’s 2023 presidential hopes.

The icing on the cake, the City mayor even saw former president Mauricio Macri – a potential internal rival in two years time – back the wrong horse in the province of Córdoba, where Luis Juez defeated Mario Negri.

Drawing up a list of the biggest losers on Sunday night, unsurprisingly President Alberto Fernández tops the list, followed closely by Vice-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who saw Peronist candidates defeated in both her home province of Santa Cruz. In the nation’s most populous region, Buenos Aires Province, Victoria Tolosa Paz failed to deliver. In Buenos Aires City, Leandro Santoro won fewer votes than anticipated.

Another of the election’s losers, yet from outside the ruling coalition, was ex-interior minister and dissident Peronist Florencio Randazoo. Scoring under four percent and an uncomfortable fifth place, he has been relegated down the pecking order by the left and the rise of libertarianism in the nation’s most populous region.

By contrast, outspoken economist Javier Milei stormed to third in the nation’s capital, securing Avanza Libertad a likely seat in Congress come November.

Moving north, winners also emerge in Santa Fe Province, where Governor Omar Perotti succeeded in the internal Peronist battle to score a victory over ex-defence minister Agustín Rossi, who resigned his post in order to run.