Opposition falls short for Congress session to overturn Milei decree

Despite the backing of a large demonstration outside Congress, Argentina’s main opposition forces failed to reach quorum on Thursday for a special lower house sessions to overturn DNU 70/23, a sweeping emergency decree issued by President Javier Milei.

Only 121 deputies had taken their seats when the 30-minute deadline for opening the special session expired, eight short of the 129 required. The failure was welcomed by the government, which has used the decree to push through a broad programme of economic reforms.

Absences proved decisive. Deputies from the centrist Provincias Unidas caucus, led by Santa Fe representative Gisela Scaglia, were among those who did not attend, alongside lawmakers from provincial groups including Tucumán’s Independencia caucus and representatives from Misiones. Two other inland deputies arrived only after Lower House Speaker Martín Menem had declared the session had fallen through.

The 121 deputies  present included members of Unión por la Patria, the main Peronist opposition caucus, the left-wing Frente de Izquierda, a dozen from Provincias Unidas, a group from Argentina Federal, Elijo Catamarca and the Coalición Cívica.

The session’s proposed agenda extended beyond the decree and included an emergency bill for the disabled and a bill to ease the burden of household debt. 

Three factors conspired against the session: the Supreme Court ruling upholding the norm limiting the sale of land to foreigners (thus reversing a previous ruling denying legitimacy to a lawsuit presented by Malvinas war veterans), the government’s U-turn over the ‘Ley de Tierras’ land law and the session confirmed for October 21 to debate the disabled and household debt, which served as a carrot for the moderate opposition.

The land law, formally known as the Regime for the Protection of National Ownership of Rural Land, limits foreign ownership of rural property. Introduced in 2011, it became a target of Milei’s deregulation drive soon after he took office. 

The pragmatism of the government, which repealed the law through DNU 70/23 in late 2023 and now seeks to restore it, stems from the fear of the opposition ganging up to overturn the emergency decree as a whole, thus also repealing laws covering rent, the ‘open skies’ programme for the aviation sector and the removal of price controls by eliminating anti-hoarding legislation. 

Peronist caucus chief Germán Martínez (Unión por la Patria-Santa Fe) said:"This government and those who did not give quorum do not feel for the Argentine people. It is our responsibility to give them the political representation they deserve at this time and the hope for the future that they need."

Pablo Juliano (Radical-Buenos Aires Province) accused the government of "tying itself up in knots to avoid quorum" and those deputies who did not show up of not giving a thought for the indebted and disabled.

–TIMES/NA