To sum as simply as possible, there appears to be a 2011 style political meltdown on the back of a particularly bad year after a decade of economic depression brought on by a succession of politicians of both Right and Center-Left who caved to demands for re-payment of National debt which Argentina had tried to cancel, then deferred. Inflation (a significant problem since at least 2018) hitting 138% (and rising) recently and the economy described as being in ‘intensive care’ (though there has been economic growth since 2021 suggesting yet another situation where wealth/income is being re-distributed upwards) https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/argentina-braces-election-with-economy-intensive-care-2023-10-19/
Unfortunately as the once mighty (and badly divided between Right, Centre and Left leaning factions) populist Peronist machine went into decline, there was only the Ultra-Left stanced ‘Worker’s Left Front’/FIT-U as an electoral alternative to the Left (whose sectarianism I imagine many found too hard to stomach). Their support peaked back at the 2021 mid-term election at 5.5% (an earlier symptom of the Peronist decline) close to the Far Right LLA with 7.2% . The main Peronist coalition at 34% and Establishment Right at 42% https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Argentine_legislative_election
In the 2023 legislative the FIT_U declined to 3.3% at the recent election (and 2.7% in the Presidential 1st round), the Peronist Centre-Left recovering to 38.5%, the Far Right LLA and Est. Right tieing at about 26.5% each https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Argentine_general_election (with Milei 2nd in the 1st round and outpolling the established right by a big margin) leaving the field clear for the Far Right take off in the 2nd round of the Presidential election (after the deal with the Establishment Right).
Milei’s expanded coalition unfortunately for now has a Lower House majority. His core alliance now has 39 seats, the Established Right 92 and the Schiaretti Peronist Right about 8 giving a majority for the Broad Right coalition with 139 seats to 108 main Peronist (including left leaning allies like the 3 ‘Communist Parties’ (2 with no seats, a Maoist tradition one having 2) and sub-coalitions of Left nationalists and other splinters who combine about 7 seats altogether afaik) and 5 Far Left FIT-U and 5 independents in the 257 seat house. There is a possibility that the Liberalish Radicals (UCR and Rad Evolution) might eventually peel off (they control about half the Established Right seats, the other half are Macri Neo-con supporters in the PRO party), but for now they are allowing Milei shout to the heavens while machinating behind his back. eg the established Right have their man over the supposedly to be abolished Central Bank, while Schiaretti also has a carve out. https://www.clarin.com/economia/javier-milei-ratifico-cerrara-banco-central-asunto-negociable_0_ynILNrdYhs.html (leading liberalish paper). Some liberal-ish news in English can be found here. https://buenosairesherald.com/
While the gravy train will thus continue for a select few, there is little doubt that the (further) major cutbacks for the many that the Established Right wanted all along will soon be coming. The distraction show of the Far Right Milei fooling many sadly.
The debate on the Left continues with a faction aligned with the (less unhinged part of the) 4th international arguing for a Broad Front Strategy urgently to resist the Broad Right https://poderpopular.com.ar/ (in Spanish) on the streets (and presumably in parliament). In particular they see informal (ie non-union) workers as having been a big part of the Milei vote (49% of the workforce is thus claimed following years of de-unionisation) in this article which discusses the crisis of Peronism and weakening of the working class. https://poderpopular.com.ar/2023/11/26/mas-alla-del-19-de-noviembre/ Whether the guys with the parliamentary seats (4 of the 5 FIT-U are aligned with the ultra left PTS-‘Trotskyist Faction of the 4th international’) will drop their sectarian posing to go along with this strategy is beyond my ken. They can be found here in Spanish https://www.laizquierdadiario.com/ (there is some limited English translation at their USA comrade site)
Those needed to fill out such a broad front include the unions (the leaders long used to cosy deals with the Peronists I assume). The liberalish Herald report seems to indicate some will try to deal with the new government. I note Macri the last right wing President is apparently feared more than the seeming scarecrow figure of Milei at this moment. https://buenosairesherald.com/politics/javier-milei-election-victory-unions-and-cgt-reorganize-to-ease-the-panic Further Macri’s man Caputo has been confirmed as Economy minister. https://buenosairesherald.com/economics/javier-milei-confirms-luis-caputo-will-be-his-economy-minister If the Peronist unions can get special deals, will they stand by while Milei and Macri savage the welfare state?
To illustrate the out of touchness of the Argentine Social Democratic component (about 7 seats in 5 parts of the Peronist coalition), the German Social Democrat funded site NUSO (a bit of a overly lofty space with abstract pieces on world affairs) gives a left leaning analysis with some sense https://nuso.org/articulo/el-huracan-milei/ ( ‘The result of the election ended up being almost a carbon copy of that of Jair Bolsonaro against Fernando Hadad in 2018’ – which is obvious enough) but does not adequately account for the exhaustion of the Left Peronism known as Kirchnerism.
So this is a situation in progress. Ex-president Christina Fernandez once a heroine of the masses could not even hold her own locality, let alone province (Santa Cruz in Patagonia) being defeated in both by around 2 to 1 margins https://www.clarin.com/politica/javier-milei-gano-57-votos-santa-cruz-cristina-kirchner-perdio-propia-mesa_0_uThv3xeAAu.html
Nothing is certain, but for now I would guess it might take years of struggle for a broad left project to assemble out of the ashes of the Peronist dream and car crash of the Far Left. Perhaps FIT-U will eventually join with the Left sounding bits of Peronism to create one, but just as likely these bits will continue to jostle for power within the Peronist coalition unless there are radical re-thinks as a result of struggle. Local broad fronts have been created though as described in the conclusion of this mostly grim account. https://jacobin.com/2023/11/javier-milei-libertarian-authoritarian-argentina-peronism-inflation-presidential-election
Although Argentina has long been seen as economically advanced by Latin American standards, yet more years of depression for the Working class and Precariat should eventually produce a new basic Populist Left project as happened in Bolivia. Will this be truly radical or another cloud of reformist hot air? Time will tell.