He is the antithesis of Javier Milei: he defends a strong state, enjoys politics and presents himself as an ordinary man of the people. Peronist leader Axel Kicillof, governor of Buenos Aires Province, is consolidating himself as the opposition’s alternative in Argentina after a major electoral victory in his district.
Kicillof’s candidates defeated Milei’s by almost 14 points last Sunday in the Buenos Aires Province legislative elections – a result far better than expected that positions him nicely for the 2027 presidential race.
“Se siente, Axel presidente,” chanted activists at the Peronist campaign bunker.
The opposition movement lost power to Milei in December 2023, badly weakened by a government of high inflation and economic disorder.
Kicillof, a 53-year-old economist who is married with two children, survived that shipwreck. Since 2019 he has governed Buenos Aires Province, considered a bastion of the Peronist movement, which is home to 40 percent of the national electorate and contributes more than 30 percent of Argentina’s GDP.
He began in politics as a student leader at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) and entered the main stage while serving as economy minister between 2013 and 2015, during the final stretch of former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s administration (2007–2015).
Kicillof pushed for the nationalisation of the oil company YPF and, as minister, negotiated with creditors he branded “vulture funds.” He also maintained energy subsidies and programmes such as Precios Cuidados, which set baskets of goods at accessible prices to tackle inflation.
Some of those policies continued, along with the ups and downs of successive governments. But when Milei took power more than a year and a half ago, he scrapped energy subsidies and price controls.
He also made Kicillof one of his favourite targets in speeches, often branding him a “dunce” and a “Soviet dwarf.”
Mate in hand
Political analyst Raúl Timerman considered that by confronting Kicillof, Milei turned Sunday’s provincial legislative election into a barometer of his government’s popularity.
“Kicillof emerges as the big winner from Sunday’s victory; the result has put the baton in his hand. He’s already taken it out of the rucksack and is making use of it,” he said.
For Timerman, Kicillof “has begun building an alternative democratic path different from Milei’s, relying on dialogue with governors from across the political spectrum.”
The son of two psychoanalysts, Kicillof cultivates a normal image, he wants to be seen to be close to ordinary people – he is often seen with a mate in hand during visits to schools or neighbourhoods; in 2019 he campaigned for governor by touring the province in the old car of his current government minister, Carlos Bianco.
Bianco, who has known Kicillof since 1998 when he was his student, said he sees him as “a hardworking, austere and ideological person.”
On Sunday, Kicillof went out to vote with his wife, literature professor Soledad Quereilhac, walking in just like any other neighbour.
The image contrasted with that of Karina Milei, the President’s sister and chief-of-staff who is in the middle of an alleged corruption scandal. She had to vote surrounded by security guards and activists, while enduring insults from some of those present.
“He is the only Argentine politician who, among those with a positive view of him, when asked for the first word that comes to mind on hearing Axel Kicillof, the answer is ‘honest,’” Timerman stressed.
‘Another path’
Though Fernández de Kirchner protected Kicillof politically as minister and promoted his gubernatorial candidacy, in recent months the economist has challenged her leadership – not least by separating the provincial elections from the national ones, which will be held on 26 October, against the will of the former president.
The gamble paid off, strengthening his hand within the wider Peronist movement. Fernández de Kirchner, its most important living leader, is under house arrest and barred from office due to corruption offences.
“Milei, the people gave you a mandate. You cannot govern for outsiders, for corporations, for those with the most. Govern for the people,” Kicillof said in his Sunday speech.
“There is another path, and today we begin to walk it,” he declared.
Despite the powerful momentum from Sunday’s triumph, Kicillof has so far played down speculation about a 2027 presidential run.
“That’s not the issue right now. The focus should be on what the government will do from here,” he said in a recent radio interview.
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by Tomás Viola, AFP
