In the 2025 midterm legislative elections held on October 26, 2025, President Javier Milei’s party, La Libertad Avanza, achieved a landslide victory. This election served as a pivotal referendum on Milei’s radical chainsaw economic reforms.
The election renewed half of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies, 127 out of 257, and one-third of the Senate, 24 out of 72. Milei’s La Libertad Avanza won nearly 41% of the national vote, taking 13 of 24 Senate seats and 64 of the 127 lower-house seats that were contested.
The Fuerza Patria opposition received approximately 34% of the vote. US President Donald Trump congratulated Milei on the landslide victory, having previously conditioned a $40billion financial lifeline on Milei maintaining political momentum. Milei’s supporters applauded the move, while critics condemned it as foreign interference in Argentina’s elections.
Corruption scandals during the campaign
A wave of corruption scandals also hit the ruling La Libertad Avanza party during the midterm campaign. Leaked audio recordings alleged a kickback scheme in the national disability agency involving the president’s sister and Chief of Staff Karina Milei.
LLA candidate José Luis Espert dropped out of the race after admitting he received $200,000 from a businessman indicted in the US for drug trafficking and money laundering. The Capital Human ministry faced scrutiny over a scandal involving undistributed food aid to the poor, a politically damaging development amid the government’s austerity drive.
Key takeaways and impact
The victory secured LLA a blocking minority, at least one-third of seats, in the Lower House, allowing Milei to sustain presidential vetoes and block opposition bills. The mandate is seen as public endorsement for Milei to continue his program of deep spending cuts and deregulation.
US President Donald Trump congratulated Milei on the landslide victory, having previously conditioned a $40billion financial lifeline on Milei maintaining political momentum. This was the first national election to use the Single Paper Ballot, or Boleta Única de Papel, system.
Provincial elections
The Buenos Aires Province election was held on September 7, 2025. The opposition Fuerza Patria won with 47% of the vote, while LLA came second with 34%. This was cited as Milei’s worst electoral defeat since taking office as he described the local provincial election for the capital as a life-or-death battle against the opposition.
The president acknowledged the clear defeat, recognizing political mistakes that we will accept, process and correct. Juan Pablo Valdés of the UCR was elected governor of Corrientes with 51.9% of the vote.
Why It matters
The midterm victory gives Milei the legislative power to continue his radical economic transformation despite corruption scandals and provincial defeats. The election also marked a deepening of US-Argentina relations under Trump, with the $40billion lifeline now secured contingent on Milei’s political survival.
The result positions Argentina as a laboratory for libertarian economic policies in Latin America, with global attention on whether the chainsaw reforms can stabilize the country without triggering social unrest.
We must consolidate the path of reform we have embarked upon to turn Argentina’s history around once and for all… to make Argentina great again.
President Milei
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