Argentina's Peronists Vie to Replace Milei's Government

Buenos Aires Province Governor Axel Kicillof called on Peronism to build an alternative to President Javier Milei's government ahead of next year's elections. Rival factions held separate Loyalty Day rallies on Saturday, October 17, 2026. Their dispute concerned who would take state power, not whether political leaders should hold it.

At a rally in Resistencia, national deputy Máximo Kirchner told activists, “We must go door to door and go out and fight to put Argentina back on its feet.” Unity alone, he said, wouldn't rebuild the opposition; organizers needed to work at the grassroots. Peronist leaders made that appeal as factions gathered separately and pressed to reorganise the movement.

A contest for the state

Kicillof addressed a large gathering in La Matanza and urged supporters to focus on Milei's government instead of internal disputes. “We have a powerful adversary, with international resources, who wants to establish a return to absolute dependence in Argentina,” he said. “Faced with that, I have come to recall one of Peronism's 20 truths: the adversary is over there; they are the ones we must fight.”

His proposed alternative is electoral. Kicillof hasn't formally entered next year's race, though he is strongly tipped to become the nominee of the Partido Justicialista (Justicialist Party, PJ), the movement's main party. “Peronism will govern Argentina again,” he said, pledging to travel the country and take on whatever responsibilities were needed to rebuild the movement.

“I have said it before and I say it today: count on me to put myself on the line, to travel the country and to assume the responsibilities that this moment in the country's history demands,” Kicillof said. He called on the movement to “build an alternative, represent our people and recover Argentina for Argentines.”

Kicillof attacked Milei's close alignment with Washington, arguing Argentina shouldn't take orders from another country. “Argentina cannot receive orders from another country: we cannot have someone who is not a president but a gofer running errands for the president of the United States,” he said, referring to Milei's relationship with US President Donald Trump.

Grassroots calls, rival platforms

Kirchner, leader of La Cámpora and son of ex-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, attended the separate rally with former governor and current senator Jorge Capitanich. He criticised politicians who talk about struggle but fail to act. “There are many who like to grab the microphone and climb onto platforms to deliver nice speeches and promise a fight, only to run away at the first sign of trouble,” he said.

The door-to-door appeal offers a grassroots answer to complacent leadership. Yet the rallies also put competing political figures before supporters as the next election approaches. The base article reports calls to organise, but doesn't report a door-to-door campaign or other action.

Both leaders referred to Fernández de Kirchner, who is serving a corruption conviction under house arrest. Kirchner said her political support was growing because Argentines remembered her record and saw her as a strong woman who wouldn't abandon supporters, even when imprisoned. Kicillof said, “Today, Cristina is unjustly imprisoned for defending our causes.”

Loyalty Day commemorates the mass mobilisation of October 17, 1945, which secured Perón's release from detention and became a foundational moment in Peronist history. Supporters were expected to gather later outside the San José 1111 apartment building in Buenos Aires, where Fernández de Kirchner is serving her sentence, hoping she'd appear on her balcony to greet them. The rallies invoked a history of mass mobilisation as today's leaders argued over who should govern next.