Parliamentary Elections 26 October 2025

On 26 October 2025 Argentina held legislative elections to its bicameral National Congress, renewing half of the Chamber of Deputies (127 of 257 seats) and a third of the Senate (24 of 72 seats). Members are elected via proportional representation closed party-list. The elections are overseen by the Electoral Justice (Justicia Nacional Electoral), led by the National Electoral Chamber (Cámara Nacional Electoral)—the country’s highest electoral authority—and supported by 24 federal electoral courts. The National Electoral Directorate (DINE) within the Ministry of the Interior manages the technical and administrative aspects of elections, including logistics, public information, and oversight of party and campaign financing (Roura 2001).

Since President Javier Milei took office in December 2023, there have been growing patterns of repression and disproportionate state violence against protesters in Argentina, threatening the right to exercise freedom of expression (Caminos 2026; Salomon 2025). 

Leading up to the election, several corruption scandals were uncovered involving people in the presidential circle (as also earlier in the year – see: Pozzo 2025). One related to a bribery scheme  (Rivas Molina 2025a; Columbia n.d.) while another implicated Luis Espert—Milei’s main congressional candidate in Buenos Aires—in money laundering and drug trafficking, leading to Espert’s withdrawing from the race (Rivas Molina 2025b). 

U.S. President Donald Trump supported President Milei, promising financial rescue in the form of currency swaps on condition of a Milei victory (La Nación 2025; Vidal Liy and Rivas Molina 2025a). The statements caused Argentine debt bonds and the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange to collapse (La Nación 2025; Rivas Molina 2025b). 

In September (leading up to the provincial election in Buenos Aires), four electoral rallies of the incumbent La Libertad Avanza (LLA) party had seen violent incidents—from shoving and insults between supporters of opposing parties, to stones being thrown towards the president’s car (Fest 2025; Tesei 2025). There had also been a surge in online political abuse between January 2023 and June 2025,including 1,589 offensive publications by President Milei (Arnaud 2025). 

During the election there were cases of disinformation, including AI-generated videos purporting to show politicians Jorge Taiana and Mauricio Macri making fabricated statements that circulated on social media (OECD 2025). Previously, in June 2025, Argentina’s top intelligence agency accused a group of five Russian citizens resident in Argentina, of spreading disinformation as part of a foreign influence operation (Fisk 2025).

Argentina has an electoral parity law that guarantees that the lists presented for legislators are made up of an equal number of men and women. Women were nevertheless underrepresented as the number of women heading the lists was very low – only 63 of 220 lists for national deputies in the 24 jurisdictions (29 per cent). This disparity was accentuated in districts with greater electoral weight—such as the Buenos Aires province, where two of 17 lists were led by women (barely 12 per cent) (Fitz Patrick and Crucianelli 2025). 

Femicide is a serious issue in Argentina, and eight femicides were reported in the first few days of October alone, sparking debate among congressional candidates around the politics of gender-based violence (Suppo 2025). Gender-based violence in the online political sphere is widespread. According to one study, 8 out of 10 women leaders have suffered it on a recurring basis and many point to members of their own political parties as the main aggressors (Carbajal 2025). 

Journalists are also especially at risk, often leading to self-censorship. Most journalists report having suffered insults or isolated aggressions, experienced harassment or organized trolling, sexual harassment or threats, or threats of physical violence (La Gaceta 2025). One of the most prominent cases is that of journalist Julia Mengolini, who was depicted in sexual AI-generated videos which circulated online, along with death and rape threats. According to Mengolini’s testimony to human rights bodies, President Milei amplified the intimidation campaign against her by posting about it intensively on social media, publicly mocking her and justifying the violence (Jaureguy 2025). 

This mid-term election was regarded as a major win for Milei’s LLA, which secured 40.84 per cent and 42.83 per cent of the vote for the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, respectively—significantly expanding the party’s share of seats in Congress. Opposition party Fuerza Patria followed with 34.9 per cent and 36.9 per cent of votes for the Chamber and Senate, respectively (Edelman 2025; Rivas Molina 2025b). It was a highly polarized election, with few votes going to the smaller parties (Edelman 2025). Despite voting being mandatory, turnout was only 67.92 per cent nationally, the lowest since the return to democracy in 1983 (Vargas et al. 2025).  

Innovations

Mandatory primaries at the national level were cancelled (for 2025) by act of Congress  in February. However, some provinces decided to hold separate local elections, meaning voters in eight provinces had to go to the polls twice (Martin 2025). Additionally, a bill was passed (Buenos Aires Herald 2025; Raszewski 2025) to limit the use of presidential emergency decrees (DNU), an instrument used more frequently in recent years and with broad potential, including to impact electoral legislation. This election also marked the introduction of a new voting system: the Single Paper Ballot (Boleta Única de Papel - BUP), replacing the traditional party-by-party ballots. The implementation was successful, contributing to a faster and more orderly, transparent process (Edelman 2025; Vargas et al. 2025).