Haciendo Bariloche, the alliance built by Governor Alberto Weretilneck and Mayor Wálter Cortés, won the election for delegates charged with reforming the municipal charter. With 88% of polling stations counted, Yanina Sánchez's list had 17,407 votes, or 34.73%, and was heading toward eight of the fifteen seats. The result grants its own majority and turns an institutional election into a province-wide political signal.
Peronism finished second with 8,153 votes, 16.27%, and was projected to win three seats. La Libertad Avanza, led by Martín Govetto, received 5,870 votes and 11.71%, likely securing two representatives. The remaining seats would go to the left and Seamos Futuro. The convention is formally plural, although the governing alliance can pass proposals without another bloc if it remains united.
The victory launches the pact between Juntos Somos Río Negro and Cortés's Partido Unión y Libertad. Both leaders read the outcome as support for joint provincial and municipal work and suggested the alliance could continue into the 2027 city and gubernatorial elections, when both will seek reelection. Bariloche, the province's largest electoral district, becomes a laboratory for a broader project.
The result was a setback for the libertarian strategy organized by Martín and Eduardo “Lule” Menem. La Libertad Avanza renewed its alliance with PRO and added other groups but finished third, more than twenty points behind the government. Senator Enzo Fullone, the Casa Rosada's main local figure and a possible gubernatorial candidate, acknowledged defeat while emphasizing representation in the reform.
Peronism celebrated remaining the leading opposition and defeating LLA. That position provides visibility and oversight, but the gap with the government demands better organization, candidates and an urban program. The election showed that national brands do not automatically transfer votes to local contests and that municipal management, public works and provincial leadership can outweigh them.
The convention's task goes beyond electoral interpretation. Its fifteen members must review municipal government, controls, citizen participation, budgeting, services, urban planning and possibly electoral rules. The majority has legitimacy to promote change, but a durable charter should emerge from public debate, technical reports and agreements beyond the current partisan moment.
Cortés proposed reducing bureaucracy and expanding tools for public works and growth. Those goals require clear limits so simplification does not weaken oversight or concentrate power. The convention should publish agendas, article drafts, hearings, votes and reasons, while incorporating universities, business chambers, unions, neighborhood groups and environmental organizations.
The next step is formal installation of the convention and opening the reform process. Weretilneck and Cortés enter 2027 strengthened, Peronism retains second place and libertarians must rebuild local roots. Institutional success, however, will be measured by the new charter's quality, not the electoral margin. A majority can accelerate decisions; the test is using it to create legitimate and stable rules.
