Milley pledges more reforms after his party won the legislative elections in Argentina

Argentine President Javier Mele obtained a broad popular mandate to continue his reform plans with his party achieving a major victory in the recent midterm legislative elections, winning more than 40% of the votes.

Milley told his supporters at his electoral headquarters in a hotel in the capital, Buenos Aires, that these elections “are a confirmation of the mandate that we obtained in 2023,” that is, in the presidential elections, “to move forward on the path of reform,” but without exaggeration.

This result, which exceeded expectations, gives a strong impetus to the government, noting that doubts about its outcome in the past two months have negatively affected the economy and the currency.

US President Donald Trump promised huge aid worth $40 billion to the Argentine economy, indicating at the same time that Washington “will not be so generous” if Milley loses.

With the release of the results of 97% of the ballot boxes, it became clear that the “La Libertad Avanza” party, to which the president belongs, won 40.7% of the votes, which will allow it to triple the number of seats in Parliament.

Commenting on these results, Trump said on the Truth Social website: “Congratulations to President Javier Milley on his landslide victory in Argentina. He is doing a wonderful job, and our trust in him has been confirmed by the Argentine people.”

But the president’s party, despite its significant progress, will not have an absolute majority in Parliament. However, he will be able to push his economic plans forward in the remaining two years.

According to Javier Milli’s estimates, which have not yet been confirmed by the electoral authorities, the number of his party’s seats in Parliament will increase from 37 to 101 (out of 257), and in the Senate from six seats to 20 out of 72.

Milley had expected his party to win a third of the seats in Parliament, considering this a satisfactory result.

Outside his electoral headquarters, where his supporters gathered, a young man working in marketing said: “I screamed as if the Argentine national team had scored a goal in the World Cup,” adding: “We did not expect such a high result.”

For his part, political scientist Sergio Berenstein described this result as “an amazing and unequivocal victory.”

He said: “Argentina gave strong support to the president, who must now show that, under a more favorable parliament, he will fulfill his promises,” especially eliminating inflation by mid-2026.

Milley ran in the elections motivated by his previous success in reducing inflation from 200% to 31.8%, in 20 months, and also by achieving budget stability that had not been seen in 14 years.

But this cost Argentina the loss of more than 200,000 jobs, and slowed the activity of the economy, which contracted by 1.8% in 2024.

The moderate opposition and economic sectors, as well as international donors, were calling for strengthening political and social support for the reforms proposed by the president.