Argentine President Cristina Fernández faces important electoral tests this week about her plans to bring forward mid-term elections and her refusal to lower export tariffs on the country’s top agricultural crops.

Deep splits between the ruling coalition and the opposition about the two issues, and the government’s scramble to get the votes to pass the bill to change the date of legislative elections to June from October, recall a showdown in Congress last year about the export tariffs issue that resulted in an unprecedented defeat for Ms Fernández.