Argentine President Javier Milley has secured a big victory in the midterm elections for Congress, the British newspaper "Financial Times" wrote in the headline, BTA reported.
Milley's Libertarian Party has won a big victory in the midterm parliamentary elections, giving a new impetus to his reforms after the financial crisis threatened to derail them.
Milley's "Liberty Advances" (CH) party won 40.7 percent of the vote against 31.7 percent for the opposition Peronist alliance, with 98 percent of the ballots counted, according to preliminary data from the electoral commission. Voter turnout in yesterday's election was around 68 percent, compared with 71.8 percent in the previous midterm elections in 2021.
"Today is a historic day for Argentina," Milley told cheering supporters at his party headquarters in Buenos Aires. "The Argentine people have decided to leave behind a hundred years of decline and continue on the path of freedom, progress and growth," he added.
The election result will strengthen Milley's position in Congress and help him continue with radical reform to overcome the long-standing crisis in the Argentine economy, which collapsed after a series of missteps by his government, the British publication said.
US President Donald Trump, who came to Milley's aid with a rescue package this month, welcomed the result. "Congratulations to President Javier Milley on his landslide victory in Argentina. He is doing a great job! Our trust in him has been justified by the people of Argentina," Trump wrote today on his social network "Truth Social".
US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant has pledged up to $40 billion in financial support for Argentina and has so far spent about $2 billion to support the peso, according to economists. Washington sees Milley as a vital fulcrum in Latin America, where the Trump administration is trying to reduce Chinese influence, the "Financial Times" notes.
In yesterday's elections, Argentines voted for half of the 257 seats in the lower house of Argentina's Congress. The CN won 64 of the 127 vacant seats, official results show, performing strongly across the country. Polls before the vote were mixed, with some predicting that the Peronists could defeat Milley.
"Argentina has given Milley very strong support and now he has the opportunity to fulfill his promises," said Argentine political consultant Sergio Berenstein.
At the same time, he noted that Milley "will still have to demonstrate flexibility, humility and the ability to make agreements with the opposition" to push through key labor and tax reforms, as the CN lacks a majority in both houses of Congress.
Projections based on official results suggest that Milley and his allies will have over 100 seats in the new lower house, but will need the support of smaller centrist parties to reach the 129 votes needed to pass legislation. The picture in the Senate, where a third of the seats were swapped, is largely similar, notes the "Financial Times".
A festive mood reigned at the SN election headquarters in central Buenos Aires, with supporters of the president applauding and chanting as floodlights illuminated the crowd in purple, the party's color. Millay, who played in a rock band that covered the Rolling Stones, took to the stage to sing "I Am the King" before delivering his victory speech.
The Peronists failed to repeat their success in local elections in Buenos Aires last month, when they defeated Millay's party by a wide margin, sending currency markets into a panic.
Hiding in the city of La Plata, their leaders did not immediately comment on the election results, but Juan Grabois, a youth leader for the Peronists, blamed Trump for the defeat. He said the US president's support for the government had made the election race unfair.
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, a two-time president and leader of the Peronists, appeared after the results were announced on the balcony of her apartment where she is under house arrest on a corruption conviction. She waved and blew air kisses to waiting supporters, but did not speak to them.
Former President Mauricio Macri, who leads the centrist Republican Proposal party, a key ally of Milley, suggested that the president strengthen his cabinet after the election to improve governability, saying he was ready to help. "Milley has my number," he joked.
Javier Milley has described his far-right party's victory in Argentina's midterm elections as a turning point for the country, another British publication, the Guardian, headlined.
The result is not enough to give Milley a majority in Congress, but it has been described as surprising by Argentine analysts.
The new seats in the lower house, along with those already occupied, allow the government to achieve its main goal for these elections: to secure at least a third of the seats in the lower house, the British publication points out.
Milley began his term almost two years ago with drastic spending cuts, eliminating tens of thousands of state jobs and freezing investment in infrastructure, healthcare, education and even the supply of medicines for pensioners.
He managed to bring inflation down from more than 200 percent in 2023 to around 30 percent in September, achieving Argentina's first fiscal surplus in 14 years. Economic activity grew by 0.3 percent in August 2025, after three consecutive months of decline.
However, purchasing power has collapsed: most Argentines say they are struggling to make ends meet, more than 250,000 jobs have been lost, and about 18,000 companies have closed, the Guardian notes.
To prevent the peso from depreciating, the government has used up its dollar reserves, even after borrowing $20 billion (of which $14 billion has already been repaid) from the IMF, and was forced to turn to Trump, who came to the rescue with a $40 billion bailout loan.
However, Trump's position was perceived by many in Argentina as interference in the elections, and some predicted that, due to anti-American sentiment among a part of the population, US support could turn against Milley. The Guardian reports.
Javier Milley scores surprise victory in by-elections, French newspaper Le Monde headlines.
The Argentine president's Liberté avec plus 41 percent of the vote, far ahead of the Peronist opposition. This will give the ultra-liberal leader more leeway in his efforts to deregulate Argentina's economy, the French publication reports.
After a fierce election campaign, Milley's party has won the by-elections by a wide margin, beating the Peronist opposition by a much larger margin than expected.
According to forecasts, the president's party is winning 16 of the country's 24 provinces. The most surprising victory was in Buenos Aires province, a Peronist stronghold, where the opposition had beaten Javier Milley's party by 14 percentage points in local elections last month, Le Monde noted.
Javier Milley wins by-elections with landslide, promises more reforms, headlines another French publication, Le Figaro.
These elections are a "confirmation of the mandate we received in 2023" in the presidential election to "continue on the path of reforms", the triumphant Milley told his supporters at his campaign headquarters in a Buenos Aires hotel.
The result, which contradicts many polls, is a huge relief for the president, as the uncertainty surrounding the election has put Argentina's economy and currency under severe pressure over the past two months. It is enough to boost the libertarian president's ability, during the remaining two years of his term, to reform and deregulate a weakened economy with low foreign exchange reserves and susceptible to financial shocks, Le Figaro said.
The moderate opposition, a number of companies, but also international donors such as the IMF, have urged the Argentine government to "increase political and social support" for his reforms.
Many analysts believe that after the elections, Javier Milley will have to take a more pragmatic course.
Last night, Javier Milley seemed to be reaching out, saying that "there are dozens of deputies and senators with whom we can reach basic agreements" on the reforms.
His plans until 2027 include tax reforms, labor market flexibility and a social protection system.
Among the Peronist opposition, disappointment reigned after the elections. The turnout in yesterday's vote, at 67.9 percent, was almost the lowest of any election since the restoration of democracy in 1983, even though voting was compulsory, according to "Figaro".