Argentina’s libertarian President Javier Milei received decisive victories in midterm elections Sunday, clinching a vital vote of confidence that strengthens his capability to hold out his radical free-market experiment — with billions of {dollars} in backing from the Trump administration.
Within the election extensively seen as a referendum on self-described “anarcho-capitalist” Milei’s previous two years in workplace, which have included corruption scandals and the scrapping of tens of hundreds of public jobs, his right-wing La Libertad Avanza celebration received greater than 40% of the votes, in contrast with 31% for the left-leaning populist opposition motion, often known as Peronism, exceeding analysts’ projections.
Milei, a key ideological ally of President Trump, mentioned his celebration and allied blocs picked up 14 seats within the Senate and 64 within the decrease home of Congress on Sunday, three seats wanting a congressional majority.
Javier Milei, Argentina’s president, middle, celebrates throughout a Libertad Avanza election evening rally in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Oct. 26, 2025.
Anita Pouchard Serra/Bloomberg/Getty
“I am the king of a lost world,” Milei exulted as his supporters cheered in downtown Buenos Aires on Sunday. “Today we have passed the turning point. Today we begin the construction of a great Argentina.”
Trump vowed to remain “with him” — if Milei received the votes
An Argentine legislative election has probably not often generated a lot curiosity in Washington, or on Wall Road.
Mr. Trump appeared to situation a $20 billion foreign money swap take care of Argentina’s central financial institution, and an extra $20 billion mortgage from non-public banks, on a great displaying for Milei within the nationwide midterms, threatening to rescind the help for the cash-strapped nation within the occasion of a Peronist victory.
“If he wins we’re staying with him, and if he doesn’t win, we’re gone,” Mr. Trump mentioned after welcoming Milei to the White Home earlier this month.
President Trump greets Argentina’s President Javier Milei on the White Home in Washington, D.C., Oct. 14, 2025.
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP/Getty
These feedback added to mounting stress on Milei, who has scrambled to avert a foreign money disaster because the Peronist opposition received a landslide victory in Buenos Aires provincial polls final month. Argentina’s bonds and foreign money nosedived as markets sensed that the general public was shedding persistence with Milei’s reforms, and analysts predicted a decent midterm race.
To stem the run on the peso, Milei burned by means of billions of {dollars} in international change reserves. Then, in a unprecedented transfer, the U.S. Treasury got here to the rescue, promoting {dollars} to assist meet hovering demand for dollars and finalizing the worldwide credit score line.
In the long run, the Peronist alliance carried out poorly, underscoring how weak the once-dominant motion has grow to be within the Milei period, largely because of inside divisions. Markets have been extensively anticipated to rally on Monday.
“For foreign investors, this outcome is a relief because it shows that the Milei program can be sustainable,” Marcelo J. García, the America’s director for the geopolitical threat consultancy Horizon Interact, advised The Related Press. “It leaves the opposition weakened and fragmented, just as it was when Milei won the presidency in December 2023.”
Trump lauds Milei, who calls him “a great friend” of Argentina
The Peronist coalition has struggled to channel rising public anger with Milei’s painful austerity measures into a brand new political technique after delivering the financial shambles that the political outsider inherited in late 2023.
Mr. Trump, throughout a flight to Japan on Monday, mentioned on his Reality Social community that Milei was “doing a wonderful job.”
“Our confidence in him was justified by the People of Argentina,” Mr. Trump wrote.
Milei responded to the put up, calling the U.S. president “a great friend” of Argentina and thanking him for “trusting the Argentine people.”
Axel Kicillof, governor of Buenos Aires province and essentially the most influential elected official within the Peronist opposition, criticized Mr. Trump for his function in serving to Milei on the polls.
A supporter of Argentina’s former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, holds an indication depicting President Trump and Argentina’s President Javier Milei, outdoors her house, the place she is beneath home arrest for corruption, following the outcomes of the nationwide midterm legislative election in Buenos Aires, Oct. 26, 2025.
EMILIANO LASALVIA/AFP/Getty
Kicillof warned that the billions of {dollars} in monetary help from the U.S. Treasury and funding banks would do nothing to assist atypical Argentines squeezed by Milei’s cuts to subsidies or compelled out of enterprise by a contracting economic system.
“I want to make it clear that neither the U.S. government nor JP Morgan are charitable societies,” he mentioned. “If they come to Argentina, it is for nothing other than to take a profit.”
“The situation is getting worse and worse”
Sunday’s consequence will check public persistence for Milei’s cost-cutting measures within the coming months. Though his finances cuts have slashed inflation — from an annual excessive of 289% in April 2024 to 32% final month — shopper value will increase nonetheless outpace salaries and pensions.
The citizens seems more and more polarized between beneficiaries of Milei’s reforms and people who say they’re struggling to make ends meet like by no means earlier than.
Within the monetary district of Puerto Madero, luxurious automobile dealerships report gross sales surging since Milei scrapped import restrictions. Streets bustle with bankers who reward the president for ending a yearslong ban on promoting {dollars} on-line. High quality eating places serve Argentine oil executives who gush about his efforts to attract international funding.
However at a soup kitchen on the opposite aspect of Argentina’s Riachuelo River, Epifanía Contreras, 64, advised the AP that she as if she was bearing the brunt of the federal finances cuts.
“You can’t live on 290,000 pesos a month with today’s inflation,” she mentioned, describing how her month-to-month pension, price about $200, has shriveled in worth because of austerity measures. “The situation is getting worse and worse.”
Greater than 250,000 jobs have been misplaced since Milei got here to energy, with round 18,000 companies closing, in line with an evaluation printed this month by the Heart for Argentine Political Economic system assume tank, because the right-wing administration froze funding in infrastructure, well being care, training and different social companies.
Voting is obligatory for adults in Argentina, however electoral authorities reported a turnout charge of slightly below 68% on Sunday, among the many lowest recorded because the nation’s return to democracy in 1983.
“I vote out of obligation, nothing more,” Matías Paredes, 50, an actual property dealer whose international clientele vanished with Milei’s robust change charge, advised the AP. “None of these figures inspire optimism. We’re just choosing the lesser evil.”
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