By Jorge Otaola

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentina’s opposition Peronist party triumphed on Sunday in legislative elections in the key province of Buenos Aires, leaving President Javier Milei’s ruling party in a distant second place, the provisional official tally showed.

Center-left candidate Axel Kicillof, governor of Buenos Aires Province and a member of the Justicialist Party, managed to pull ahead of Milei’s Libertarian Party in the elections. 

Based on provisional official counts, the Peronists won 46.8% of the vote across the province, while the candidate of Milei’s party took 33.8%, with 82.2% of the votes counted.

Milei has been facing increasing pressure over a bribery scandal and growing unease over public spending as he enters a pivotal election season that could define his government’s grip on power.

Milei reaffirmed his libertarian policies later on Sunday, after acknowledging defeat in the province.

“The course will not change, it will be redoubled,” said the president, speaking from the provincial headquarters of his Freedom Advances coalition, focusing on fiscal balance, economic openness, and inflation control.

(Reporting by Jorge Otaola; Writing by Stefanie Eschenbacher; Editing by Kim Coghill and Paul Simao)