Argentina's president Javier Milei has led his party to a landslide victory in Sunday's midterm elections, after defining the first two years of his presidency with radical spending cuts and free-market reforms.
His party, La Libertad Avanza, won nearly 41% of the vote, taking 13 of 24 Senate seats and 64 of the 127 lower-house seats that were contested.
His gains will make it much easier for the president to push ahead with his programme to slash state spending and deregulate the economy.
Before the vote, Milei's ally Donald Trump made it clear that the US's recently announced $40bn lifeline for Argentina would depend on Milei keeping political momentum.
Milei's supporters welcomed that, though critics accused Donald Trump of foreign interference in Argentina's elections.
In a nod to his North American ally, Milei told cheering supporters: 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.
Before these elections, his party had just seven Senate seats and 37 seats in the lower house.
That meant his programme of spending cuts and reforms faced various political obstacles.
His vetoes of bills to boost funding for state universities, people with disabilities and children's healthcare were all overturned by opposition lawmakers.
After Sunday's result, hundreds of his supporters gathered, cheering, outside a hotel in Buenos Aires where he was watching the result.
Milei didn't have 15% of Congress in his favour. Now, with many more deputies and senators, he'll be able to change the country in a year, one young voter Dionisio said.
Our province was devastated by previous governments, another voter Ezequiel said.
Now, thank God, freedom has won. We want our daughter to grow up in this beautiful country. What happened in previous years is regrettable.
These elections were the first national test of President Milei's popularity since he took office in 2023, pledging to shrink state spending by taking a metaphorical chainsaw to it. He brandished a real one during his campaign rallies.
He's since cut budgets for education, pensions, health, infrastructure, and subsidies, and laid off tens of thousands of public sector workers.
Supporters, including Trump, hail him for taming inflation - which hit triple figures annually before he took office - cutting the deficit, and restoring investor confidence.
His critics, though, argue the price has been job losses, a decline in manufacturing, crumbling public services, a fall in people's purchasing power and an imminent recession.
Juliana, who works with children with disabilities in Tucumán province, expressed concern that a law to increase funding for people with disabilities - which Milei vetoed, before being overturned - could be in danger with the president's position strengthened in Congress.
Veronica, a retired police officer, has been hit by Milei's pension cuts.
You see a lot of poverty, she said. It's very hard: for retirees, for people with children with disabilities, for young people. There's a lot of unemployment. Many factories have closed.
Milei has also kept inflation down by propping up the peso, leaving it overvalued and draining reserves ahead of $20bn of debt repayments next year.
This raised alarms that Argentina could be hurtling towards an economic crisis.
Skepticism about Milei's sustainability grew due to a poor election result in Buenos Aires province in September, unsettling financial markets.
This election turnout was 67.9%, the lowest in a national election in decades, reflecting widespread apathy with politicians of all stripes.
Some voters backed him reluctantly.
Milei has two years left and should try to do what he can, said Dardo, a business owner in Buenos Aires. I think we're on the right path, but the middle and working classes are suffering too much.
The upcoming $40bn US assistance could create a roadmap for economic recovery, contingent on Milei's ability to maintain reforms that foster market confidence.
Moreover, with his mandate now expanded due to the election results, Milei may implement more radical changes leading up to the next presidential election, which could see him on the ballot once again in 2027.
For now, however, a significant proportion of voters appear willing to give him time to enact his vision.
