Kezia McKeague, managing director at McLarty Associates: “Both Argentina’s political class and foreign investors closely watched the Sept. 7 election as a bellwether for the Oct. 26 national midterms—given the short interval between contests and the electoral weight of Buenos Aires province, Argentina’s most populous province. As a longtime Peronist stronghold voting in a purely local election with low turnout, the province is not perfectly predictive of national dynamics. However, the double-digit margin for the Peronist coalition suggests that midterms polling—which had been showing that La Libertad Avanza could take around 40 percent of the total vote, the highest share among all parties—may underestimate discontent over the economy and the impact of a recent corruption scandal. Recessionary effects of the administration’s austerity measures likely overshadowed its success with disinflation, and recent vetoes on extra funding for public…”