What awaits politicians in 2026?

Almost without a break, after a busy election year and an intense December, the most important figures in Argentine politics are starting to look askance at the blank pages of the 2026 agenda. There are those who have already started filling them. Sometimes with great fear.

Challenges, projects, conflicts and unknowns that need to be uncovered will certainly shape the next twelve months. The balance will appear unstable: although the tensions leading to national or provincial elections are skipped, the tension will take place in the run-up to the 2027 presidential elections. Nothing less.

As is usual in Argentina, politics will be tied to the economy. And vice versa. Once the new almanac begins, a deadline must be highlighted. As of Friday, January 9th, our country has a debt maturity of more than $4.2 billion.

Javier Milei and Economy Minister Luis “Toto” Caputo assure that the payment is secured. Where these funds will come from is still a mystery, as reserves are insufficient to meet such an obligation.

Apparently the president was the one who got the agenda through the quickest. In addition to the aforementioned financial test, about which the markets have no doubts thanks to the support of the USA (is the announced trade agreement also planned for 2026?), Milei wants to accelerate its legislative structural reforms.

It ends 2025 with the satisfaction of having its first budget approved. Trimmed by Congress in one of its chapters – which initially provoked some anger – but adopted with speed, as the Libertarian leader intended. Christmas wish fulfilled.

It will be in February when Milei resumes his legislative reformist intentions. The extraordinary sessions will take place again with the aim of discussing and adopting the sensitive labor and glacier reform laws.

With the first, the government is attempting to make hiring and firing conditions in the labor market more flexible, with the promise that more formal jobs will be created and informal employment reduced. The second is about boosting mining. They focus on strong opposition from unions and environmentalists.

The Department of Commerce and Deregulation is also working to identify measures to offset the budgetary impact of Congress maintaining the college and disability exemptions. In addition, they are pushing forward drafts for tax reform. Will it be this year?

The changes to the pension system appear to have been postponed without a date. It is possible that the potential social impact or public opinion will influence the president’s decision to seek re-election. It has already happened to Mauricio Macri, like the beginning of the end of his term in office, after he won comfortably in the midterm elections.

Milei could cause one or two surprises. As explained here, the agreement between Mileism and Kirchnerism to define the representation of MPs in the AGN (General Audit of the Nation) opened a bridge to bring together positions around the naming of the two vacancies in the Supreme Court. Also in the Attorney General’s Office. These appointments require a two-thirds majority of the Senate.

One would have to wonder what impact an understanding of this carat might have on the political agenda of another important leader: Axel Kicillof. So far, Kirchnerism, in the context of its tone-deaf leadership confrontations, has separated him from any national movement.

In his 2026 notebook, the governor of Buenos Aires noted from now on intensive summer activities with regular visits to the Atlantic coast to benefit from the massive landing of tourists from all over the country. His goal is to face Milei in 2027.

In this sense, he will underline his commitment to act as the president’s main opponent. For example, he was the only leader who recently took part in the CGT march in Plaza de Mayo against labor reform. His fierce opposition poses risks for him: He is waiting for the nation to approve the issuance of more than $3 billion in debt.

Kicillof would like to add an extension to the confrontation. As he explained at an event days ago, he intends to leave the province of Buenos Aires and federalize the proposals. Since it is not an election year, Kicillof plans to visit and meet with several fellow governors. Inside and outside the PJ. His “seduction” operation does not seem to be easy in this balkanized Peronism, starting with the province he governs.

How much could Cristina Fernández de Kirchner do to help him? A lot. But he avoided lifting a finger. Quite the opposite: every step went against him. The constant clashes between Kicillofism and La Cámpora, which Juan Grabois has now joined, reveal pessimistic forecasts. Will there be wars over political inheritance?

Unless the days are shaken by a possible pact with the government through the court, 2026 will be a long year for the former president. Due to a complicated postoperative period, he is still recovering in the Otamendi Sanatorium and is awaiting the continuation of his house arrest due to the conviction in the traffic case at San José 1111.

What is worse for her is that the judiciary has become more restrictive on visits while at the same time requiring her to attend the hearings of the oral and public trial of the bribery notebooks remotely (except during her hospital stay). The process will not be interrupted until January due to the court mass and is not expected to be completed until 2027.

With this level of problems, it will be difficult for CFK to maintain the control over Peronism that it exercised until this year, when Kicillof’s challenge broke its leadership. Has the moment of decline so often predicted and never before predicted by its critics arrived?

When it comes to sunsets in power, how can we forget Macri? He blew up Together for Change, he allied with Milei without achieving his goals, he imploded a PRO in which many of its leaders were dressed in purple, and the government never stopped “harassing” him, as he himself described it.

Just before Christmas, the libertarians gave him an unforeseen disappointment: the agreement with La Cámpora for the AGN, which excluded his former minister Jorge Triaca from the organization. The PRO called on the court to declare unconstitutional what its Milleista allies were promoting.

Perhaps the Macrista 2026 agenda is the least extensive. Tradition has it that their vacation will last the entire summer at their villa in the private Cumelén neighborhood, Villa La Angostura. Luckily there is a good phone and WiFi signal.

In the middle of the year he has to score the World Cup, with the privilege of running the FIFA Foundation. By the way: Could it be because of this or another unknown reason that Macri has not issued a statement on the official offensive and investigations against Claudio “Chiqui” Tapia and his entourage? Strange silence from the former president of Boca. Very curious.