Javier Milei has defeated an attempt to increase spending on pensions in Argentina after the country’s opposition parties failed to secure the votes they needed to override the libertarian president’s veto.
Lawmakers in the lower house voted 153-87 in favour of overriding Milei’s veto on Wednesday — falling short of the two-thirds majority they needed.
Milei argued that the increase, meant to more fully compensate pensioners for Argentina’s sky-high inflation, would have undermined his flagship pledges to eliminate Argentina’s chronic fiscal deficit and bring down inflation. His minority government had been negotiating with a small group of centrist legislators who had voted in favour of the rise last month to convince them to abandon their support.