Argentina’s Milei faces enormous hurdles to govern

Javier Milei may have won an unexpectedly large majority in Argentina’s presidential election but the self-declared “anarcho-capitalist” faces huge obstacles to implementing his radical programme to shrink government and dollarise the economy.

Argentina’s dire state, with inflation running at 143 per cent a year, a wildly unrealistic official exchange rate and unsustainable public finances, would pose a daunting challenge for any new head of state.

But Milei, a first-term legislator with no executive experience, is far short of a majority in congress. His insurgent party La Libertad Avanza, hobbled in October’s congressional elections by a lack of nationwide organisation, will hold just 39 seats in the new lower house out of 257. In the senate, which renews a third of its members every two years, the position is even worse: Milei only has eight out of 72 seats.