Javier Milei hails ‘tipping point’ as his far-right party wins Argentina’s midterm elections | Argentina

The party of Argentina’s far-right president, Javier Milei, won Sunday’s midterm elections after campaigning in which US President Donald Trump announced a $40 billion rescue package for the country and made continued aid contingent on the victory of his Argentine counterpart.

With more than 95% of the votes counted, Milei’s party, La Libertad Avanza, won 40.84% ​​of the nationwide vote in an election seen as a de facto referendum on the self-styled anarcho-capitalists’ nearly two-year rule.

Peronist opposition Fuerza Patria received 31.67% of the votes.

Although the result still fell short of giving Milei a congressional majority – which remains in the hands of the Peronists – it was often described by Argentinian analysts as surprising, given the recent blows to his libertarian popularity due to corruption allegations involving his sister and the ongoing economic crisis.

The government had downplayed expectations, considering any rate between 30 percent and 35 percent a satisfactory result, especially after Milei’s heavy defeat by 14 percentage points to the Peronists in the Buenos Aires provincial elections in September.

But this time, Milei’s party reversed course and won in Argentina’s largest constituency, home to nearly 40% of voters.

Milei sang “I am the king of a lost world” as he took the stage in front of hundreds of fans at a hotel in Buenos Aires. He began his speech with the following words: “Today we have passed the tipping point; the construction of a great Argentina begins.”

The president praised the US rescue package as “unprecedented not only in Argentine history, but in world history, because the United States has never offered this much support.”

Echoing the Trumpist slogan, Trump said in Spanish: “We are now focused on carrying out the reforms that Argentina needs to consolidate growth and ensure the country’s definitive rise to make Argentina great again.”

In the elections, 127 out of 257 seats in the lower house and a third of the senate, 24 out of 72 seats, were captured. Milei’s party won 64 seats in the lower house and 12 seats in the senate.

The new seats in the lower house, combined with those already held, allow the government to achieve its main goal in this election: ensuring that at least one-third of the lower house retains the presidential veto.

Milei began his administration almost two years ago with spending cuts, laying off tens of thousands of public workers and freezing investments in infrastructure, health, education and even the supply of medicines for retirees.

It managed to reduce inflation to around 30 percent in September from 200 percent in 2023, achieving the country’s first fiscal surplus in 14 years. Economic activity increased by 0.3% in August 2025, after three consecutive months of decline.

But purchasing power has fallen: Most Argentines say they are struggling to make ends meet, with more than 250,000 jobs lost and nearly 18,000 businesses closed.

Libertarians’ popularity also took a hit when Milei introduced a cryptocurrency that later collapsed; his sister and most powerful cabinet member, Karina Milei, was involved in an alleged corruption scheme; and one of his party’s leading candidates withdrew from Sunday’s election after admitting to receiving $200,000 from a businessman accused of drug trafficking in the United States.

To prevent the peso from devaluing, the government burned through its dollar reserves even after taking out a $20 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (of which $14 billion had already been paid) and was forced to turn to Trump, who came to the rescue with a $40 billion bailout package.

Trump’s stance was seen as election interference by many in the country, and some predicted that US support could backfire on Milei due to anti-American sentiment in some segments of the population.

Despite voting being compulsory, turnout stood at 67.85%, the lowest level since the return to democracy in 1983, surpassing the previous record low of 71% set in 2021.