Argentina's Milei secures seats, eyes coalition for reforms

Argentine President Javier Milei’s libertarian A ire made strong gains in Sunday's midterm elections, but he now faces the challenge of showing he can build a coalition to push through investor-desired reforms, analysts and lawmakers say.

- Leila Miller and Lucinda Elliott, Reuters

Sunday's vote should transform La Libertad Avanza (LLA), Milei’s small minority party, into a powerful bloc capable of defending presidential vetoes to control government spending from congressional overrides led by the leftist Peronist opposition, who say that Milei’s free-market policies hurt Argentina's local production. They have rallied against his austerity measures, which have reduced retiree pensions and funding for public universities.

But Milei must also now recruit allies to back significant policy changes, including tax and labor reforms he hopes to push through. Milei’s party will remain short of a majority in both houses once new lawmakers are sworn in on Dec. 10. In his victory speech, Milei voiced a deeper willingness to form partnerships. But the overtures from a politician long known as a renegade who prefers to blaze his own trail have been met with caution by lawmakers from outside his party.