Argentina: President Alberto Fernandez's government loses Congress majority, seeks opposition dialogue

Argentine President Alberto Fernandez has called for dialogue with the opposition following Sunday's midterm elections, with projections showing his coalition has lost control of Congress.

In the run-up to the election, there was widespread discontent over the state of the economy, which has been in recession since 2018 and was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Based on projections of over 90 per cent of votes counting, Fernandez's Frente de Todos (Everyone's Front) coalition, which already held the majority in the lower house of Congress, looks set to drop from 41 to 35 seats in the 72-member Senate.

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For the first time since Argentina's return to democracy in 1983, Peronism - a left-leaning movement based on former president Juan Peron that now covers a broad spectrum of political perspectives - would not hold a majority in the Senate.

In order to pass laws or make key appointments, including to the judiciary, Garcia is likely to have to make concessions to the opposition during the last two years of his tenure.

"We need to prioritise national agreements if we want to resolve the challenges we face," said Fernandez, adding that he would approach opposition groups to try to find common ground.

"An opposition that is responsible and open to dialogue is a patriotic opposition."

In Sunday's elections, half of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies and a third of Senate seats were up for grabs.

According to Interior Minister Wado de Pedro, the turnout in the compulsory elections was between 71 and 72 per cent.

In his recent primaries, Fernandez suffered a bruising defeat, picking up just 33 per cent of the vote, compared with 37 per cent for the main opposition group, Juntos por el Cambio (Together for Change), led by Macri.

"These next two years are going to be difficult," Macri said Sunday while assuring voters that his coalition would "act with great responsibility."

Fernandez "will have to negotiate law by law," said Raul Aragon, a political scientist at the National University of La Matanza.

The opposition, however, is expected to be open to talks.

"It won't serve them to not engage in dialogue, and appear anti-democratic" before the presidential elections in 2023, Aragon said.

Watch |Argentina: Rift brewing between moderate Peronists and Hardliners

The government had been in damage-limitation mode since the primaries, announcing last month a deal with the private sector to freeze prices on more than 1,500 basic goods following street protests calling for increased food subsidies.The minimum wage and family allowances have also been raised.

(With inputs from agencies)