Argentinian President Milei's party wins landslide victory in midterm elections

Argentinian President Javier Milei's party won a landslide victory in the country's midterm elections.

Milei's party, La Libertad Avanza, won nearly 41% of the vote on Sunday, scooping up 13 of 24 Senate seats and 64 of the 127 lower-house seats that were contested, BBC reported.

President Trump congratulated Milei on Truth Social on Monday, saying, "BIG WIN in Argentina for Javier Milei, a wonderful Trump Endorsed Candidate! He’s making us all look good. Congratulations Javier!"

Before the election, Trump said that the U.S. would give a $40 billion lifeline to Argentina if Milei won through the combination of a currency swap, buying pesos, and arranging private investment.

Milei said, "We must consolidate the path of reform we have embarked upon to turn Argentina's history around once and for all… to make Argentina great again."

The election turnout was 67.9%, the lowest in an Argentinian national election in decades.

Prior to the election victory, Milei's party had just seven Senate seats and 37 seats in the lower house, which meant that his spending cuts and reforms faced political obstacles.

Milei vetoed bills to increase funding for state universities, people with disabilities, and children's healthcare, but they were all overturned by opposition lawmakers.

The Argentinian president cut budgets for education, pensions, health, infrastructure, and subsidies since he took office in 2023, and laid off tens of thousands of public sector workers.

Trump and Milei's supporters have praised him for taming inflation, which had hit triple figures annually before he took office, in addition to cutting the deficit and restoring investor confidence.

Also, Milei has kept inflation down by propping up the peso, making it overvalued and draining reserves ahead of $20 billion of debt repayments next year.

However, Milei's critics have argued that the price of those policies has been job losses, a decline in manufacturing, crumbling public services, a decline in people's purchasing power, and an imminent recession.