What's at Stake in Argentina's Elections?

Bloomberg

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00:00Argentina President Javier Malay faces his biggest test yet as voters head to the polls this Sunday.

00:05Almost half the seats in Congress are up for grabs, and Malay is losing favor.

00:10That is the topic of today's Big Take.

00:12One political consultant told Bloomberg, quote,

00:15the working class voted for him based on economic expectations that haven't been met.

00:20Malay isn't the same man he was two years ago.

00:23For more on this, let's bring in one of the reporters who wrote the story,

00:26Manuela Tobias with Bloomberg News in Buenos Aires.

00:28Manuela, thanks for joining us.

00:31Malay himself is not up for re-election, so tell us what's at stake here in this election.

00:38Hey, Scarlett, it's great to be here.

00:40Yeah, so there's nearly half of Congress up for grabs this Sunday,

00:46one-third of the Senate, and half of the House.

00:49Malay's party was founded in 2021,

00:52so there's no chance that he could get a chance at a simple majority.

00:59But investors are hoping that he gets at least a third of the House of Representatives

01:06in order to defend his legislation, his decrees, from being overturned.

01:12And more than that, so that he can send a message to more moderate lawmakers

01:18so that they can get on board with him

01:20and pass the reforms that Argentina needs to have longer-term growth

01:25and really deliver the promises that he made to voters two years ago.

01:29What chances does Javier Malay have to secure a third of the seats in the lower house?

01:34So, securing a third of the lower house with his current coalition,

01:44which is his Libertarian Party plus the pro-business party of former President Mauricio Macari,

01:52pollsters say that should be a done deal,

01:56getting a third of seats in the lower house with this coalition.

01:59The question is, by how much can he surpass that mark?

02:05If he barely scrapes by, that's going to raise questions about how long that coalition stays together

02:12and whether it's able to really pass longer-term reforms.

02:16Whereas, if he's able to surpass that mark by a wide margin,

02:21there's going to be a really good momentum going forward

02:25and also convincing these moderates across the aisle to work with him and actually pass legislation.

02:32And very quickly here, Manuela, how long before we get the results?

02:36Is this something that we'll be able to find out by the end of the day, the following day, the following week?

02:41We'll know on Sunday night.

02:43Usually, voting ends at 6 p.m. local time, and then results tend to come in around 8 p.m. Eastern time.

02:57We should know that night, and especially this time around,

03:02when there's a new system of voting that actually lets voters report their vote in a single ballot,

03:13which should hopefully give us answers before it gets too late in New York.

03:18All right, good stuff.

03:18And, of course, you will be among those monitoring that.

03:20Manuela, thank you so much.

03:21Manuela Tobias with Bloomberg News in Buenos Aires.

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