Argentina's Markets Plummet After Milei's Local Election Loss

Argentina’s Markets Plummet After Milei’s Local Election Loss Argentina Argentina’s markets tumbled Monday after right-wing President Javier Milei’s party lost a provincial election in the capital of Buenos Aires, a setback that calls into question public support for his austerity measures and pro-market overhauls, the Wall Street Journal reported. Milei’s La Libertad Avanza (Liberty Advances) party won about 34 percent of the vote in Sunday’s legislative elections in Buenos Aires province, where nearly half of the country’s population resides. Meanwhile, Milei’s left-wing Peronist opponents won about 47 percent in what has long been regarded as their stronghold. The election marked Milei’s first test at the polls since taking office in late 2023, vowing to curb government spending and reduce the country’s gargantuan debt and inflation rate. The libertarian leader inherited triple-digit inflation from former Peronist president Alberto Fernandez. Even as Milei admitted that his party’s performance at the election was “a clear defeat,” he vowed to continue with his agenda after his policies of cutting public spending successfully brought down inflation for the first time in years, Al Jazeera noted. While Milei’s success in lowering inflation has won him praise from investors, Argentines continue to struggle economically: Economic growth has not increased significantly amid a decline in consumer spending and failure to generate jobs – Argentina’s unemployment rate is currently at its highest level since 2021. As a result, demonstrators have regularly taken to the streets to protest budget cuts. Meanwhile, Milei’s loss also follows recent corruption and bribery scandals linked to his sister, Karina Milei, and close advisers. Sunday’s vote was considered a test of public support for Milei’s free-market policies ahead of October’s congressional elections, where half of the lower house and a third of the Senate will be up for grabs. Congress is already dominated by opposition parties, and Milei’s latest loss in Buenos Aires has dealt a blow to Milei’s hopes of expanding his influence, said analysts.