President Alberto Fernandez’s center-left coalition lost control of both houses of parliament in Sunday’s by-elections, a source close to his government said, citing statistical projections with 98% of the vote incorporated.
“If the numbers we have confirmed, the majority in the Senate is lost,” the source told AFP.
Mr Fernandez’s “Frente de Todos” (“Front of All”) coalition already did not have a majority in Parliament. In the Senate, the ruling Peronist coalition is going to see its seats reduced from 41 to 35 (out of a total of 72).
The head of state from 2019, who has only two years left until the end of his term, in a speech in which he acknowledged the defeat, announced a “new stage” of the government and called for a “fruitful relationship”. with parliament.
He assured that he would approach other political forces in order to “agree on a program as common as possible” with the “responsible, open to dialogue and patriotic opposition”.
According to forecasts, and pending final results, the Peronist coalition, although now a minority, will continue to hold the most seats in both houses of parliament. But he lost ground in the face of the center-right alliance “Juntos por el Cambio” (“Together for Change”), of former President Mauricio Macri (2015-2019).
According to several political analysts, Mr Fernandez’s minority government will see its room for maneuver diminish dramatically in the run-up to the 2023 presidential election. in executive decrees.
Nevertheless, Mr Fernandes assured Sunday that he was “determined to defend the interests of the country”, in particular to enter into a “sustainable agreement” with the International Monetary Fund, to which Buenos Aires is required to repay 20 More than $ 19 billion of the $ 44 billion borrowed by Argentina from the Washington-based international financial institution under Mr Macri. “We need to resolve the debt-related uncertainties, which are not sustainable as they are,” he said, adding that “negotiation does not mean obedience.”
Argentina is back on the path of economic growth this year, after three years of recession and after suffering a severe socio-economic impact from the new coronavirus pandemic; now plagues more than 40% of its population
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