Javier Milei’s Great Opportunity

Last Sunday’s midterm elections in Argentina were the great challenge that Javier Milei and his model had to face after winning the presidential elections in 2023. Not only was the consolidation of his political force, La Libertad Avanza, at stake, but also the democratic recovery of the Republic. The result of elections was decisive in determining the new course of a country engulfed by a deep crisis that has dragged on for generations. It was clear that for Milei, winning would be an opportunity to place Argentina once again on the path of development and growth so that it would retake its rightful place among the leading nations in the international framework.

The overwhelming and unexpected electoral victory achieved by the ruling party unquestionably signalled renewed confidence from the electorate in the government project. The alliance La Libertad Avanza obtained almost 41% of the votes at the national level, surpassing Fuerza Patria by nine points: 9,337,665 libertarian votes against 7,276,429 of the Kirchnerist Peronism.

The extent of the victory is stunning: La Libertad Avanza has become the most voted-for force at the national level, and it won in 16 districts. Milei swept Peronism away, with hardly anybody foreseeing it. His movement managed to win even in the province of Buenos Aires, a historic Peronist bastion, today submerged in misery, corruption, and violence, with an absolute lack of public security that its citizens suffer daily.

At the polls the majority of Argentines have made clear what they do not want, what they categorically reject: to continue being governed by Kirchnerism. In the last twenty-two years, Néstor Kirchner (2003-2007), Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (2007-2015), and Alberto Fernández (2019-2023) have passed through the Casa Rosada, the historic headquarters of Argentine presidents. These two decades of misgovernance have left the country mired in the most shameful poverty and geopolitically aligned with some of the most repugnant narco-dictatorships and tyrannies in the world.

One of the many possible readings of the election results is that, beyond the economic difficulties still faced by a large part of the Argentine people, thanks to the incipient and complex application of a political model defined as liberal-libertarian, the population has embraced the government’s plan. By contrast, all the opposition offered was to “unseat Milei” and put an end to the government “no matter what” by boycotting and permanently blocking any economic measure aimed at the capitalization of the economy, macroeconomic consolidation, and the end of the fiscal deficit, the adjustment of unnecessary spending, and the elimination of monetary issuance as a tool to cover the deficit and sustain inflation.

It is crucial to bear in mind that the government’s economic policies have been validated by the result. In the last few weeks, Argentina obtained the backing of the United States when the Federal Reserve, for the first time in history, bought Argentine pesos within the framework of a 20 billion dollar currency swap with the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic. In exchange, stable governance was requested to ensure stability, and this was reflected in the electoral result. The fact is not minor: it is a sign of trust from the Trump administration towards Milei’s government project, with all that this implies at the international market level.

“The Argentine people decided to leave behind one hundred years of decadence,” said Javier Milei in his speech upon learning the election results. And he did so in a conciliatory, non-aggressive tone, something demanded by a large part of his electorate and which shows a rare civic maturity. Many of his voters now expect restraint from the president and his government team and rapprochement with those who may be allies, taking into account that, despite the libertarian triumph, Peronism also garnered more than seven million votes. The worst thing that could happen is to consider an evil like Kirchnerism as definitively defeated. 

It is also key to listen to that part of the electorate that does not give out blank checks: that today votes for LLA and tomorrow may vote for another force, and which expects results rather than gestures. In spite of a certain clumsiness in the way the government handled the ‘$Libra’ cryptocurrency case, a situation that some analysts described as “the perfect storm” that could have put an end to the government, the confidence in Milei, La Libertad Avanza, and their project of transformation has not been shaken. And there are rational reasons why.

The Argentine government’s success during these first two years in achieving a fiscal surplus, greater discipline in public accounts, reducing unnecessary spending linked to corruption, stabilizing the macroeconomy, and making the exchange rate transparent is unquestionable. The Milei administration has also made progress in liberalizing and deregulating the economy, promoting investment, and encouraging private investment through the ‘Ley de Bases’—legislation that contains hundreds of measures to reform the State—all this coupled with less State intervention, which generated greater market confidence, improving the external balance and generating a trade surplus.

In spite of the mistakes made by the government and the difficulties that millions of Argentines still face, the electorate has made it clear at the polls that it wishes to recover the lost greatness. Therefore, this post-electoral moment is a great opportunity for the government to correct mistakes and advance in the fulfillment of the objectives of the program with which Milei arrived at the Casa Rosada.

This trust must not be disappointed, because if that were to happen, there would be no room for maneuver. What lies ahead is difficult: two years of government, even with the political and electoral strength with which Milei became president in 2023, are not enough to reverse almost a century of political, economic, and social catastrophes. But Argentina today is further away from Venezuela’s destiny, and that is already great news.

Will libertarianism become a new political trend rooted in Argentina, as proposed by Javier Milei? That remains to be seen, and it does not seem to be the most important thing. What is essential is the change in the political culture of the citizenry, the reversal of the ideas of socialism and demagogic collectivism that plunged a country rich in natural and human resources into a morass of corruption and decadence. Argentina went from competing in wealth and prosperity with the Western powers at the beginning of the last century to breaking historical records of hyperinflation and poverty.

Today, Javier Milei, after the electoral result, has reasons to celebrate an overwhelming victory over Kirchnerist Peronism, but he cannot relax. He must take note of what has been done so far in order not to repeat mistakes and beware of flatterers and opportunists that may surround him. He must not give up the objectives of a courageous and transforming project, revalidated in the ballot boxes, and must not lose the confidence of the Argentine people: confidence that is invaluable and very difficult to regain.