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Argentine President Javier Milei’s libertarian party has won a big victory in national midterm legislative elections, giving his free-market reform drive fresh impetus after a financial market crisis threatened to derail it.
Milei’s La Libertad Avanza party garnered 40.8 per cent against 31.6 per cent for the Peronist opposition alliance with 95 per cent counted, according to tallies by local media using provisional figures from the electoral commission. Turnout in Sunday’s election was 68 per cent, compared with 71.8 per cent in the previous midterm election in 2021.
The result should help Milei push ahead with his radical overhaul of Argentina’s long-troubled economy, which had faltered after a series of mis-steps by his government. Investor jitters about faltering support for Milei’s reforms triggered a run on the peso last month.
It is likely to please President Donald Trump, Milei’s most important ally, who came to his rescue this month with a bailout package but suggested that continued backing depended on the election result.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has promised up to $40bn of support for Argentina and has so far spent roughly $2bn propping up the peso, according to economists’ estimates.
Around half of the 257 seats in Argentina’s lower house were up for re-election on Sunday. LLA won 64 of the 127 available, official results showed, increasing its total to 92.
“This gives the government the ability to make reforms over the next two years,” said Amilcar Collante, an economics professor at Argentina’s La Plata National University. “There will be a big rally of stocks and bonds tomorrow.”
There was a jubilant mood at LLA’s election headquarters in central Buenos Aires, with supporters cheering and shouting as spotlights bathed the crowd in the party colour of purple.
The Peronists failed to repeat their success in Buenos Aires provincial elections last month, when they beat Milei’s party by a wide margin, triggering a run on the peso.
Hunkered down in the city of La Plata, their national leaders made no immediate comment on the election but Juan Grabois, a Peronist youth leader, blamed Trump for the defeat. He said the US president’s backing for the government had made it an unequal contest.
Former president Mauricio Macri, who leads the centre-right PRO party that has been a key ally for Milei, suggested the president strengthen his cabinet after the election to improve governability, saying he was ready to help. “Milei has my number,” he quipped.
On the crypto-based currency exchanges where the Argentine peso trades 24 hours, the peso had strengthened over 7 per cent against the dollar, reversing its recent weakness.
Additional reporting by William Sandlund in Hong Kong