Milei faces his political challenge in the legislative election

Argentina is preparing for a key legislative election for Javier Milei, as the president has a lot at stake, including economic support from the United States.

BUENOS AIRES, Oct 25 (Xinhua).- More than 36 million Argentines are enabled to choose tomorrow, Sunday, October 26th 24 senators already 127 deputies in the mid-term legislative electionsconsidered by analysts as an examination of the first two years of management of the President Javier Milei.

“It is a very important mid-term election, like all of them. We must keep in mind that in Argentina we have short presidential terms, four years, so this is the hinge, half of the mandate,” said political scientist Patricio Giusto in a recent interview with Xinhua.

The analyst explained that this was intended when the system was designed, that is, in a form of plebiscite to “allow people to express themselves and, in any case, reaffirm or promote a renewal in the political forces with changes in half of the Chamber of Deputies and a third of the Senate.”

For the first time, the Single Paper Ballot will be used in the elections, in which 16 districts will only elect national deputies, while the remaining eight will vote for national deputies and senators.

Sunday’s vote will take place from 08:00 to 18:00 local time (11:00 to 21:00 GMT) with the objective of renewing half of the Chamber of Deputies and a third of the Chamber of Senators starting next December.

The electoral offer includes the ruling party La Libertad Avanza, allied in some districts with the center-right Republican Proposal (Pro) and which governed from 2015 to 2019.

The main opposition forces are Fuerza Patria (Justicialist Party, Peronism, Kirchnerism) with governments between 2003-2015 and 2019-2023, as well as United Provinces with governors in different locations.

Among the 24 districts into which the South American country is divided, only 16 will elect national deputies and they are the provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Córdoba, Jujuy, Tucumán, Catamarca, La Rioja, San Juan, San Luis, Mendoza, Chubut, Santa Cruz, Formosa, Misiones, Corrientes and La Pampa.

The remaining eight districts correspond to the provinces of Salta, Neuquén, Río Negro, Tierra del Fuego, Chaco, Santiago del Estero, Entre Ríos and the city of Buenos Aires, where national deputies and senators will be elected.

The province of Buenos Aires, with just over 13.5 percent of registered citizens, is the one with the greatest electoral weight (37.04 percent), followed by the provinces of Córdoba (8.65 percent), Santa Fe (7.89 percent) and the city of Buenos Aires (7.39 percent).

At the other extreme are the provinces of Catamarca, La Pampa, La Rioja, Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego, which due to their low number of inhabitants do not exceed one percent of the total electoral roll in Argentina.