Argentina goes to polls amid economic crisis and Trump ‘interference’
Poor showing in Sunday’s election would deal hammer blow to country’s radical libertarian president, Javier Milei
Facundo Iglesia in Buenos Aires and Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro
Argentina’s radical libertarian leader, Javier Milei, is facing a pivotal moment in his presidency with voters set to deliver their verdict on his two-year-old administration on Sunday against a backdrop of political and economic crisis and accusations that his ally Donald Trump is meddling in the country’s affairs.
A poor showing in Sunday’s midterm election would be a hammer blow to Milei, who took power in December 2023 pledging to kickstart “a new era of peace and prosperity” by slashing spending and inflation.
Milei has had some success in taming triple-digit inflation, but in recent months the 55-year-old former TV celebrity has been buffeted by a succession of crises, including corruption scandals involving his sister, and chief-of-staff, Karina Milei, and another close ally who was linked to an alleged drug trafficker, and a sell-off of Argentina’s currency, the peso.
In August, Milei was pelted with stones by angry voters and the following month his party, La Libertad Avanza, suffered a stinging defeat in the provincial election in Buenos Aires, where 40% of Argentina’s 45 million citizens live.
The US president, who is Milei’s most powerful foreign friend, has thrown him a lifeline in the form of a bailout that could total US$40bn (£30bn). But even Trump painted a dire picture of the South American country’s stagnating economy last week, telling reporters: “Argentina is fighting for its life … They are dying.”
Trump has warned he could axe the aid package if Milei fares poorly in Sunday’s vote, when half of the seats in the 257-member lower house are up for grabs as well as 24 seats in the 72-member senate. “If he doesn’t win, we’re gone,” Trump said last week while hosting Milei at the White House.
Trump’s apparent attempt to influence Argentine voters is not his first intervention in South American politics this year. Starting in July, the US president set about trying to derail the trial of his far-right ally, the former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, with a campaign of tariffs and sanctions against Brazil and its officials. But that campaign failed, boosting the political fortunes of Brazil’s leftwing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, while also failing to save Bolsonaro from a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup.
In Argentina, Milei’s political opponents also predict Trump’s manoeuvres will backfire.