buenos aires, argentina
Reuters
—
Early results from Argentina’s parliamentary elections on Sunday showed a landslide victory for President Javier Milei, with voters overwhelmingly supporting his free market reforms and deep austerity policies, giving the liberal leader a strong push to continue economic reforms.
In Buenos Aires province, the president’s party, La Libertad Avanza, won 41.5% of the vote, compared to 40.8% for the Peronist coalition, according to official results. The state has long been a Peronist political stronghold and is undergoing dramatic political change.
Nationally, La Libertad Avanza won 37 to 64 seats in the lower house, according to government statistics.
Milley was aiming to expand minority support in Congress and maintain the support of US President Donald Trump. The government has recently provided Argentina with huge financial aid, but has threatened to pull out if Mr. Millay doesn’t succeed.
Half of Argentina’s lower house (127 seats) and one-third of the upper house (24 seats) are up for election in the midterm vote. The Opposition to Peronism movement has the largest minorities in both chambers, but Milley’s relatively new party has only 37 members and six senators.
The White House and foreign investors have been impressed by the government’s ability to slash monthly inflation from 12.8% before Milley took office to 2.1% last month, run a budget surplus and enact sweeping deregulatory measures.
However, her popularity has waned in recent months due to public dissatisfaction with her public spending cuts and a corruption scandal involving her sister, who is her chief of staff.
Political experts said more than 35% of the vote would be in favor of Milley’s government, and that, through coordination with other parties, he could thwart efforts by opposition politicians to override a veto of legislation that Milley says threatens Argentina’s fiscal balance.
Millay said he expected there would be a cabinet reshuffle after the election, including members of former President Mauricio Macri’s centrist PRO party, which is a frequent government ally in parliament.
The election will be welcome news for the White House. President Trump’s $40 billion bailout for Argentina includes a signed $20 billion currency swap and a potential $20 billion debt investment facility.
Bonds and stocks are expected to rise when markets open on Monday, as the result will give Mr. Milley the votes and political capital he needs to accelerate reforms.
Many analysts are predicting a devaluation of the peso as a result of this result, saying it is overvalued in order to curb inflation.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
