More than 35 million people are summoned to participate in the Open, Simultaneous and Mandatory Primaries (PASO) that will consecrate the formulas for the presidential elections on October 22.
The candidates to occupy 24 seats in the Senate and 130 for national deputies will also be defined, in addition to the candidates for mayor of the City of Buenos Aires and the government of the province of the same name, among other positions. Voting is mandatory.
The anger and disappointment of Argentines with the political class after years of inflation —the last measurement in June gave 115% year-on-year— that threw 40% of the population into poverty, added to insecurity and chronic problems in the economy Argentina (shortage of dollars, indebtedness) have marked the pulse of an electoral campaign with an open end.
The center-right opposition coalition Juntos por el Cambio appears better profiled in the polls to recover the political power it lost in 2019 at the hands of Peronism.
For this reason, there is great expectation for the primary between the mayor of the capital, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, and the former Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich.
The vote will also show the electoral potential of the ruling Peronism, which will compete under the name Unión por la Patria, after four years in office of Alberto Fernández, who will not seek re-election given his unpopularity.
In this space, the polls take it for granted that the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, will win out over the leftist social leader Juan Grabois.
With the intention of putting the electoral hegemony of the two main coalitions in check, the ultra-liberal economist Javier Milei, from La Libertad Avanza, appears, proposing to dollarize the economy and close the Central Bank. An admirer of Jair Bolsonaro and Donald Trump, Milei unites the vote of the outraged with traditional politicians, especially among the youngest.
To put a candidate in the presidential race, the political forces must reach at least 1.5% of the valid votes in the PASO.
Voting will begin at 8:00 in the morning (11:00 GMT) and will close at 18:00 in the afternoon (21:00 GMT). The electoral justice will disseminate the official counts no earlier than 10:00 p.m. (01:00 GMT).
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
