BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA – Argentine President Javier Milei has secured a stunning and decisive victory in the nation’s midterm legislative elections, in a high-stakes vote that was less an election and more a national referendum on his brutal "shock therapy" reforms—and the survival of a $40 billion US bailout.
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| Javier Milei said the elections marked a turning point and vowed to pursue reforms his government still considers necessary - REUTERS/Cristina Sille |
With President Donald Trump’s stark ultimatum that US aid would "be gone" if Milei lost, Argentine voters on Sunday doubled down on their "anarcho-capitalist" leader, handing his La Libertad Avanza (LLA) party a resounding mandate to continue its radical overhaul of the nation's perpetually troubled economy.
With over 95% of ballots counted, LLA captured a commanding 40.8% of the congressional vote. The long-dominant, center-left Peronist movement, which has defined Argentine politics for generations, was left in the dust, trailing at just 31.6%.
The result is a powerful endorsement of Milei's core campaign promise: to take a chainsaw to the bloated state, deregulate the economy, and dismantle the central bank.
A $40 Billion Sword of Damocles
This was no ordinary midterm. The election was thrust into the global spotlight and transformed into an existential test for the nation's economy.
Just weeks ago, following a catastrophic run on the national currency, the peso, President Donald Trump’s administration stepped in with an unprecedented $40 billion aid package to stabilize the country. But the assistance came with a bold and public caveat that tied the White House directly to the election's outcome.
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| The election was thrust into the global spotlight after US President Donald Trump bailed out Mr Milei, after a run on the national currency, the peso - Jonathan Ernst |
“If [Milei] doesn’t win, we’re gone,” President Trump stated in a blunt warning earlier in October, making it clear that American “generosity” was entirely conditional on Sunday’s results.
This high-stakes political gamble from Washington placed immense pressure on Argentine voters, effectively forcing them to choose between Milei’s painful austerity and the high probability of immediate economic collapse. They chose austerity.
Mandate to "Plough On"
The victory, which was the first critical test of Milei's support since he took office two years ago, saw half of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies and one-third of the Senate seats up for grabs.
At LLA's election night party in Buenos Aires, the atmosphere was electric. Hundreds of supporters, many waving the Gadsden flag, celebrated the confirmation that their "revolution" was not just a temporary protest but a new political consensus.
“God bless Argentina,” Milei’s spokesman, Manuel Adorni, wrote on X moments after the results became clear.
However, the path forward remains complex. Despite the landslide popular vote, the newly won seats will not grant LLA an outright majority in either house. To pass his most radical legislation, President Milei must now skillfully forge alliances with the traditional center-right parties that were previously his rivals, proving he can be a pragmatist as well as a provocateur.
Addressing the nation from his party headquarters, Milei himself framed the victory as a historic, non-negotiable shift.
“Today we pass through a turning point,” he declared to a sea of cheering supporters. He asserted that voters had unequivocally shown their desire to “irreversibly change the path forward” and end a century of economic decline.