Did Argentine voters endorse their president’s economic overhaul—or cow to Trump’s threats?
On Sunday, Argentine President Javier Milei’s far-right political movement achieved a strong showing in the country’s midterm elections. His La Libertad Avanza (LLA) party secured nearly 41 percent of the national vote, a plurality. Roughly half of the lower house and one-third of the Senate were up for grabs. The LLA gained seats in both chambers, increasing its share of deputies from 37 to 101 and senators from six to 20.
The LLA still lacks a congressional majority. But its increased influence will boost Milei’s libertarian agenda and pro-market reforms, which have involved drastic public spending cuts and sowed division across Argentine society since he took office nearly two years ago.
While Milei’s signature austerity measures have succeeded in lowering the country’s runaway inflation—the annual inflation rate dipped to 31.8 percent last month, down from more than 200 percent a year prior—they have also gutted social services, alienating many of the working and middle-class voters who helped propel Milei’s outsider candidacy to power. Real incomes have declined, poverty has deepened (although that trend may be stalling), and inequality has widened as the costs of economic stabilization become more apparent.
