Poor showing in Sunday’s election would deal hammer blow to country’s radical libertarian president, Javier Milei

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rgentina’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.