\n<\/p>\n
Voters in Argentina are heading to the polls in midterm legislative elections that will gauge support for President Javier Milei\u2019s sweeping free-market reforms, which have caused austerity pains for many, at a critical juncture in his presidency.<\/p>\n
Elections are being held on Sunday for half of Argentina\u2019s lower Chamber of Deputies, or 127 seats, as well as a third of the Senate, or 24 seats. The outcome could determine whether Milei\u2019s libertarian programme of hefty budget cuts and bids to deregulate the country\u2019s struggling economy will endure.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n Milei\u2019s La Libertad Avanza party, a relatively new political force in Argentina, has only 37 deputies and six senators, amounting to less than 15 percent of seats in Congress.<\/p>\n The party is aiming to boost that share to at least a third of seats in Congress \u2013 to help defend against opposition attempts to thwart the president\u2019s agenda, to shore up investor confidence and, crucially, to retain Milei\u2019s support from fellow right-winger United States President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t give up because we\u2019re halfway there,\u201d Milei told supporters at a closing campaign event in the port city of Rosario on Thursday. \u201cWe\u2019re on a good path.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier this month, Washington pledged a $40bn potential bailout, including a $20bn currency swap to stabilise the value of the peso, and a possible $20bn \u201cfacility\u201d.<\/p>\n But Trump has threatened to pull away if his populist ally performs poorly, warning that \u201cif he doesn\u2019t win, we\u2019re not going to waste our time, because you have somebody whose philosophy has no chance of making Argentina great again.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s bailout plans have infuriated US farmers struggling amid his trade war with China, and many have questioned his \u201cAmerica First\u201d credentials.<\/p>\n US Senator Chuck Grassley from Iowa recently summed up the concerns: \u201cWhy would the USA help bail out Argentina while they take American soybean producers\u2019 biggest market???\u201d<\/p>\n On October 19, a reporter asked Trump why he decided to aid Argentina despite concerns among US soya producers.<\/p>\n \u201cArgentina is fighting for its life,\u201d Trump answered. \u201cYoung lady, you don\u2019t know anything about it. \u2026 They have no money. They have no anything.\u201d<\/p>\n Currently, both chambers in Argentina are controlled by the left-wing and centrist opposition to Milei\u2019s party, with the Peronist opposition movement currently holding the largest minority in both houses.<\/p>\n Milei, a brash, self-declared \u201canarcho-capitalist\u201d, came to power in December 2023, promising to revitalise Argentina\u2019s long-ailing economy, wielding a chainsaw as a symbol of his intention to radically cut state spending.<\/p>\n His presidency has seen tens of thousands of public sector jobs disestablished, spending on education, health and pensions slashed, and public works frozen.<\/p>\n The austerity policies have been blamed for pushing millions deeper into poverty, but have slowed monthly inflation \u2013 down from 12.8 percent before Milei\u2019s inauguration to 2.1 percent last month \u2013 albeit while economic growth and consumption have faltered.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, many of Milei\u2019s signature policies, including bids to privatise state-owned enterprises, have been blocked by Congress.<\/p>\n Adding to his woes, members of Milei\u2019s inner circle have been implicated in scandals, including one tied to his sister, who also serves as his chief of staff.<\/p>\n With Milei\u2019s approval numbers down, and following losses for his allies in bellwether provincial elections in Buenos Aires last month, pundits predict his party will struggle to achieve its target of a third of the seats up for grabs.<\/p>\n Mauricio Monge, Latin America economist at Oxford Economics, told AFP that the US bailout was \u201cnot enough to counteract the growing likelihood that the election results will prevent further reforms\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIf history has taught us anything about Argentina, it\u2019s that previous bailouts, when political support wanes, have proven futile,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Voters in Argentina are heading to the polls in midterm legislative elections that will gauge support for President Javier Milei\u2019s sweeping free-market reforms, which have caused austerity pains for many, at a critical juncture in his presidency. Elections are being held on Sunday for half of Argentina\u2019s lower Chamber of Deputies, or 127 seats, as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":93,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latin-america-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=92"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/93"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=92"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=92"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=92"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
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