String of scandals
But gaining support has proven difficult, as a series of high-level scandals has taken a toll on the approval ratings for both Milei and his party.
On October 6, for instance, a leading Milei-backed candidate, Jose Luis Espert, suspended his campaign after he was charged with money laundering.
Prosecutors say Espert accepted at least $200,000 from Federico Andres Machado, an Argentinian businessman who is being extradited to the US on drug trafficking and fraud charges.
Until those allegations came to light, Espert had been a leading contender to represent the province of Buenos Aires in the Chamber of Deputies.
Milei has denounced the accusations as a “malicious operation” to “smear” the candidate, and Espert himself has denied any wrongdoing.
But Espert is not the only figure in Milei’s inner circle to face controversy.
A few weeks earlier, leaked audio captured Diego Spagnuolo, the former head of Argentina’s National Disability Agency, accusing the president’s sister, Karina Milei, of requesting kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies.
Milei, who appointed his sister as secretary-general to the presidency, has likewise rejected those accusations.
He called the leaked audio part of an “orchestrated and planned disinformation campaign” aimed at “maliciously influencing the electoral process”.
In the wake of the scandal, however, Argentina’s Congress delivered high-profile rebukes to Milei’s platform.
It overrode Milei’s veto for the first time in September to defend disability spending. Then, in October, it rejected Milei’s veto again to preserve increases to education and healthcare funding.
