Peronism will have a larger legislative bench, but

The dispute for the presidency of Argentina will be decided in the second round, on November 19th. But one thing is already certain: whoever wins will have to negotiate in Congress to approve their projects.

This Sunday (23), together with the first presidential round and for some provincial governments, the election of deputies and senators was held. The summary of the result is that no president will have a legislative majority. Peronism (from candidate Sergio Massa) will be the largest minority in both Houses, therefore the political force with the most relative weight. But the ultraliberals (from opponent Javier Milei) gained ground and left the parliamentary scenario more fragmented.

In the Chamber, which renewed half of its composition, União pela Pátria (Peronist coalition with which Massa won first place), will have 107 seats, compared to 94 for Juntos pela Change (Patricia Bullrich’s right-wing alliance, which was left out of second place). shift) and 38 from A Liberdade Avança, by Milei.

:: Elections in Argentina: in the final stretch of the campaign, the peso agonizes against the dollar and inflation soars ::

The Peronists currently number 118, so they have lost ground. Even so, they maintained the largest bench, which should give Massa, if elected president, the strength to negotiate and make agreements with the provincial blocs, the left and the right. Juntos pela Change, which had 116 seats and practically shared the Chamber with União pela Pátria, lost the most, as it will now have 94. And Milei’s party, which did not exist two years ago and currently has just three deputies ( Milei himself and two others), becomes the third largest force, with 38 deputies.

The coalitions of the other two presidential candidates, the leftists Myriam Bregman and Juan Schiaretti, will maintain the four seats they each already held.

Senate

In the Senate, the Peronists, who had lost their first minority after the rupture of the government coalition at the beginning of the year, recovered their position: from 31 senators, there will now be 35, that is, they were just two seats away from having a majority — there are 72 seats in all. Together for Change fell from 33 to 24, being the party that suffered most with the result of the election, reflecting the defeat suffered by Patricia Bullrich, having lost in historically favorable provinces, such as Jujuy. And the extreme right will have its first bloc, made up of eight senators.

Javier Milei’s success in many historically Peronist provinces, such as San Juan and San Luis, and in right-wing strongholds such as Jujuy, broke with an old polarization and gave way to a third force that will need to be taken into account when forming alliances and the conquest of the majority.

With information from Page 12.

Editing: Leandro Melito