Argentina Decree Survives Vote on Foreign Land Rules

Only 121 deputies took their seats in Argentina’s lower house on Thursday, October 15, leaving the opposition eight votes short of the 129 needed to consider overturning President Javier Milei’s DNU 70/23. The decree, which the government has used to advance a broad economic reform programme, faced no challenge in the session. Outside Congress, a large demonstration took place.

A decree and control of rural land

DNU 70/23 repealed the Regime for the Protection of National Ownership of Rural Land, which limits foreign ownership of rural property. Introduced in 2011, the law became a target of Milei’s deregulation drive soon after he took office. The government repealed it through an emergency decree in late 2023 and now seeks to restore it.

The proposed session covered more than the land law. Its agenda also included an emergency bill for disabled people and a measure intended to ease household debt. Had the opposition overturned the decree in full, it could also have repealed laws covering rent, the “open skies” aviation programme and the removal of price controls through the elimination of anti-hoarding legislation.

As the opposition considered challenging the decree, the government changed its approach to the land law. The article cited that reversal, a Supreme Court ruling and the scheduling of another session as factors behind the failure to reach a quorum. The Court upheld the norm limiting land sales to foreigners, reversing an earlier ruling that had denied legitimacy to a lawsuit presented by Malvinas war veterans.

The missing votes

Absences decided the outcome. Deputies from the centrist Provincias Unidas caucus, led by Santa Fe representative Gisela Scaglia, stayed away, as did lawmakers from Tucumán’s Independencia caucus and representatives from Misiones. Two other inland deputies arrived only after Lower House Speaker Martín Menem declared the session had fallen through.

Those who attended included members of Unión por la Patria, the main Peronist opposition caucus; the left-wing Frente de Izquierda; a dozen deputies from Provincias Unidas; and representatives from Argentina Federal, Elijo Catamarca and the Coalición Cívica. The 121 deputies present fell eight short of the threshold. The session couldn’t proceed to consider the proposed measures.

Opposition criticism and next session

A further session was confirmed for October 21, with disability and household-debt measures on the agenda. The article said that date gave moderate opposition lawmakers an incentive to hold back, alongside the Court ruling and the government’s reversal over the land law.

Germán Martínez, chief of the Unión por la Patria caucus, 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, identified as Radical-Buenos Aires Province, accused the government of “tying itself up in knots to avoid quorum.” He said deputies who stayed away hadn’t thought about indebted people and disabled people. The session’s failure left the opposition without a vote on DNU 70/23, including its repeal of the rural land ownership restrictions.