Argentina has 34% abstention in decisive legislative election for Milei

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Elections will determine whether Milei will obtain the necessary seats to support his decrees. The election will also define whether the politician will be able to promote the reforms that will mark the second half of his term.

Milei’s party, A Liberdade Avança (LLA, in its Spanish acronym), needs allies to face the Peronist opposition. Currently, the LLA has only 37 of the 257 deputies and six of the 72 senators.

Milei goes to the polls under political and financial pressure. He drastically reduced inflation, but at the cost of tens of thousands of jobs, falling consumption and the collapse of industry. It also cut pensions and health and education budgets, which provoked massive protests, repressed with an iron fist.

Argentine exchange rates have been under pressure in recent weeks, in an extremely volatile market. The expectation is that the peso will devalue if the government suffers a defeat at the polls. Asked whether there will be a devaluation tomorrow if the results of the polls do not favor the government, the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, said that this “will not” happen.

The president managed to approve reforms with opposition support in 2024, but this year, Congress reversed several vetoes. Milei’s clashes with governors intensified, and, after an electoral defeat in the province of Buenos Aires, the most populous in the country, on September 7, an exchange rate race began that devalued the peso by 8%.