Milei emerges triumphant in high-stakes Argentine midterm elections closely watched by Washington

BUENOS AIRES Argentina AP Argentina s libertarian President Javier Milei won decisive victories in key districts across the country in midterm elections on Sunday clinching a crucial vote of confidence that strengthens his ability to carry out his radical free-market experiment with billions of dollars in backing from the Trump administration Milei s governing La Libertad Avanza party won of the votes nationally in elections for the lower house of Congress according to tallies in local media using numbers from electoral functionaries The results widely disclosed also manifested his party won six of the eight provinces that voted to renew a third of the Senate In Sunday s elections Argentines voted on nearly half the seats in the Chamber of Deputies the lower house of Congress and for a third of those in the upper house the Senate THIS IS A EMERGING NEWS UPDATE AP s earlier story follows below BUENOS AIRES Argentina AP On the northern bank of Argentina s Riachuelo River luxury car dealerships summary sales surging since libertarian President Javier Milei scrapped import restrictions Streets in the Puerto Madero financial district in Buenos Aires bustle with bankers who praise Milei for ending a yearslong ban on selling dollars online Fine restaurants serve sushi and steak to Argentine oil executives who gush about his efforts to draw foreign commitment On the opposite side of the polluted Riachuelo waterway Veronica Leguizamon braved heavy rain last Friday to carry home dinner for her four daughters from a soup kitchen in her neighborhood of Isla Maciel a daily routine since Milei slashed subsidies for society services and unwound price controls on staple foods It s not like we used to have so multiple luxuries but before we could choose a meal she mentioned Now we have to depend on others to know if we ll eat or not The contrasting fortunes of these Buenos Aires neighborhoods just over a kilometer apart illustrate the tensions polarizing the Argentine electorate in Sunday s nationwide congressional midterms As millions of Argentines voted on Sunday their vastly different perceptions of the commercial sector stand to determine whether Milei succeeds and whether the Trump administration presses on with a financial rescue plan for its cash-strapped ideological ally Within my little circle everyone s happy with how things are going revealed Fernanda D az who runs a yacht rental company in Puerto Madero When I step outside it I see people worried about making it to the end of the month In a reflection of widespread disillusionment electoral executives disclosed an extremely low turnout rate of just after polls closed Sunday despite voting being mandatory for citizens Milei s opposition spooks markets Commenting on the midterm elections U S President Donald Trump threatened to rescind a billion aid package for Argentina if Milei suffers a defeat at the hands of a socialist or communist Trump was apparently referring to Argentina s loosely populist movement known as Peronism that helped deliver the economic shambles that Milei inherited in late Reckless residents spending under a succession of Peronist governments including that of former President Cristina Fern ndez de Kirchner now serving house arrest for corruption brought Argentina infamy for its inflationary spirals and sovereign debt defaults We needed a major change revealed D az who before launching her yacht business lost her job as a top executive when Chilean retail group Falabella shut down its Argentine operations over high inflation import restrictions and a wildly oscillating exchange rate under the previous Peronist cabinet I voted for Milei s ruling body and was really enthusiastic at first Markets shudder at the thought of a Peronist return When the Peronist coalition beat Milei s libertarian party by a landslide in last month s Buenos Aires provincial elections investors panicked that the president s free-market overhaul was losing sponsorship and rushed to pull capital out of the country In an extremely rare move the U S Treasury came to the rescue selling dollars to help meet soaring demand for greenbacks signing a billion credit line and promising another billion in aid from private banks rather than U S taxpayers Assets jumped on each of the Trump administration s announcements Having dodged a currency emergency Milei and his supporters were briefly ebullient I m proud of the U S encouragement It helps us grow stronger revealed Luciano Naredo a high-end car salesperson in Puerto Madero I think Argentina is eventually taking its rightful place in the world But Trump s warning that the U S could pull assistance unnerved markets Investors are hedging against more turbulence Fed up with the chain saw Although Isla Maciel has long been a Peronist stronghold of the wider Avellaneda municipality voted for Milei as president in betting on the wild-haired political outsider to stabilize the financial market and end triple-digit inflation Wielding a diesel-fume-spewing chain saw at rallies Milei cut tens of thousands of leadership jobs slashed state spending and burned through foreign exchange reserves to shore up a chronically depreciating peso Inflation dropped in fulfillment of Milei s flagship campaign promise But almost two years into his economic overhaul purchasing power has dropped too With inflation still hovering at annually residents of Isla Maciel have watched the value of their wages and pensions shrivel You can t live on pesos a month with nowadays s inflation Epifan a Contreras reported as she packed her plastic bowl with rice and peas at the Foundation of Isla Maciel soup kitchen referring to her monthly pension The situation is getting worse and worse It s not fair Contributors serving sopa paraguaya a custardy cornbread to a stream of regulars on Friday noted demand has more than doubled in the past year Those who once picked up occasional meals when tight on cash now turn up hungry People are coming out of real need stated Maria Gomez a volunteer cook It s chaos A third fewer residents of the Avellaneda municipality supported Milei s libertarian party in last month s provincial vote than in expressing nostalgia for the redistributive policies of the opposition Peronist party despite its more fresh reputation for financial ruin Axel Kicillof governor of Buenos Aires province and the the bulk influential elected official in the Peronist opposition explained Argentina faced a critical vote in the midst of a complex economic atmosphere as he cast his ballot in the city of La Plata Where is this resolved or where does it begin to be resolved he appealed of the nation s economic troubles At the ballot box Milei has vowed in campaign speeches to press on with his harsh austerity operation But his chain saw prop once a rally staple hasn t been trotted out in months Voting on Sunday in Buenos Aires middle-class Almagro district with his sister under heavy guard Milei shook hands with supporters who shouted Go president and left without making statements to the press Argentines face familiar uncertainty Preponderance polls predicted a tight race between Milei s La Libertad Avanza Liberty Advances party and the Peronist Fuerza Patria coalition Half of Argentina s lower house or seats and a third of the Senate or seats are up for grabs At the moment controlling less than of Congress Milei s regime hopes to win enough seats to defend its austerity measures uphold presidential vetoes and impose labor and tax reforms The stakes are high A defeat for Milei could pile more pressure on the peso and force a painful devaluation of the currency s controlled exchange rate raising inflation and undermining the president s main achievement Weary Argentines are bracing for impact Each new leadership comes in criticizes the last one promises to do things differently and ends up being the same or worse disclosed Mat as Paredes a real estate broker whose foreign clientele vanished with Milei s strong exchange rate This country moves in cycles Source