BUENOS AIRES (Reuters)

Argentina's lower house of Congress failed to gather enough votes on Wednesday to overturn President Javier Milei's veto of a law aimed at increasing university funding, marking a victory for the libertarian leader amid public protests against his policies.

Milei had previously vetoed a bill intended to update public university funding in response to Argentina's soaring inflation, one of the highest globally. This veto sparked mass demonstrations against cuts to education and healthcare.

Legislators voted 160 in favor of the university funding law, with 84 opposed and 5 abstentions, falling six votes short of the two-thirds majority required to reverse the presidential veto.

Despite being a minority in Congress, Milei's far-right party has formed alliances with conservative lawmakers to block the opposition from achieving the necessary votes for ratification.

"What we saw today was a power struggle," said Alejandro Finocchiaro, a lawmaker from the conservative PRO party. "If the presidential veto did not pass, it would have been a very bad sign for markets."

Milei contends that the proposed law would undermine fiscal balance, critical in addressing the ongoing economic crisis, pledging to veto anything that might threaten it. Education, healthcare, and pension expenditures have suffered most from his budget cuts.

The vetoed law aimed to adjust university budgets according to inflation, as university salaries have lost approximately 40% of their value due to the economic situation.

Although inflation appears to be stabilizing under Milei's austerity measures, Argentina remains entrenched in recession with poverty rates exceeding 50%.

Opposition against the cuts, particularly to education funding, remains fervent. "The right to public education defines our nation," stated Facundo Manes, a lawmaker from the center-left UCR party, during the veto debate. "Education is the best economic policy of the 21st century, which is why we will not give up defending it."