Overview
- Javier Milei’s La Libertad Avanza won about 40–41% of the vote, securing a strong plurality but falling short of controlling either chamber.
- With the center-right PRO, the bloc is set to hold 107 of 257 seats in the lower house and 24 of 72 in the Senate when the new Congress is seated on December 10, still below the 129-seat threshold for a simple majority.
- Milei is prioritizing a second phase of reforms that would simplify the tax system, lower employer payroll charges, ease hiring and firing, extend daily working hours up to 12, allow partial non-cash pay, and later revisit pensions, proposals already drawing firm union resistance.
- Washington’s financial backstop—including a reported $20 billion swap within a possible $40 billion lifeline that President Trump tied to Milei’s success—has been credited with stabilizing the peso and remains a flashpoint over Argentina’s dependence on the US.
- Markets rallied after the vote, with gains in Argentine bonds, stocks, and the currency, even as inflation has cooled to roughly 30% and critics highlight falling real wages, job losses, and factory closures under austerity.