Argentina: Javier Milei Promises an Avalanche of Reforms after his Victory in the Legislative Elections

INTERNATIONAL: This is a huge relief for the government of Javier Milei, who will be able to accelerate his reforms for Argentina

Sunday, the ultraliberal president argentinian was a great success in the legislative mid-term, with just over 40% of the votes nationally. For Javier Milei, it is a resounding vote of confidence and a highway to continue its reforms. These elections are “the confirmation of the mandate that we received in 2023” in the presidential election, to “move forward on the reformist path”, launched a triumphant Javier Milei, but without excess or excess, to his supporters in his electoral HQ, in a hotel of Buenos Aires.

The result, which belies many polls, is an immense relief for the executive, while the uncertainty linked to the election had placed the Argentine economy – and its currency – under intense pressure for two months. This triggered the promise of massive aid from its American ally Donald Trump, up to $40 billion.

“Congratulations to President Javier Milei on his Crushing Victory in Argentina. He does a wonderful job! Our confidence in him was justified by the Argentine people”, reacted the American president on Truth Social, while participation on Sunday, of 67.9%, was almost the lowest of all elections since the return of democracy in 1983.

Almost tripling of Milei’s deputies

La Libertad Avanza, Javier Milei’s party, received 40.7% of the votes nationally, according to official results at 97% of the count, and is destined to almost triple its parliamentary base, without reaching an absolute majority. Enough to increase the capacity of the “anarcho-capitalist” president to reform and deregulate – over his remaining two years of presidency – a fragile economy with low foreign exchange reserves and subject to financial turbulence.

According to projections expressed on Sunday by Javier Milei himself, but not confirmed by the electoral authority, his bloc of deputies would increase from 37 to 101 (out of 257 deputies), and his senators from six to 20, out of a total of 72 senators. Javier Milei estimated that obtaining a third of the seats would be a “good figure”, a threshold allowing him in particular to impose his vetoes on parliamentarians if necessary.

A two-speed society

Javier Milei arrived at the vote already crowned with success against inflation, reduced in twenty months from more than 200% to 31.8% interannually, and with a budgetary balance not seen in fourteen years. But his “largest budgetary adjustment in history” – as he likes to repeat – saw more than 200,000 jobs lost, an anemic activity, contracting by 1.8% in 2024, a recovery in 2025 which is running out of steam. And a society more than ever at two speeds.

Since 2023, the Head of State has legislated extensively by decrees, or one-off legislative agreements in the hemicycle. But he had seen himself increasingly hindered by one Parliament pointed out by its rigidity, even its insults: “rat nest”, “degenerates”… In its sights by 2027: tax reforms, flexibilisation of the labor market, and the social protection system.