Milei’s party wins Argentina midterm vote in major comeback

President Javier Milei’s party won Argentina’s midterm vote Sunday, a result that will give the libertarian leader a strong foothold in Congress to continue pursuing aggressive free-market policies that have won praise and a financial lifeline from Donald Trump. 

Milei’s party, La Libertad Avanza, received 41 percent of votes nationwide with 92 percent of ballots counted, according to data published by the Interior Ministry. It led in most of Argentina’s provinces and finished well ahead of the main opposition party, which in all of its iterations garnered about 32 percent of the vote, local newspaper Clarín said.

Milei said in a victory speech that he’d have the backing of 101 members of the lower house and 20 senators, without specifying if that total included members of other parties his had partnered with in the vote. The results would push Milei comfortably past the one-third of seats he needs in the 257-member lower house to protect his veto power, as well as a base to pursue legislative priorities like tax, labour and pension reforms as he seeks to overhaul the nation’s beleaguered economy.