STEP 2023: Voting centers open for the primary elections in Argentina

The polling stations of Argentina opened at 08:00 (11:00 GMT) this Sunday for the primary elections overlooking the presidential elections next October 22.

Some 35.4 million Argentines are summoned to define with their vote the lists of candidates who will be enabled to compete in October, when president and vice president will be elected, 130 of the 257 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 24 of the 72 seats in the Senateand 43 Argentine representatives will be chosen for the Mercosur Parliament (Parlasur, legislative body of the bloc made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguayan and Uruguay).

LOOK HERE: Elections STEP 2023 LIVE | Argentina votes in some key primaries to define the course of the presidential race

More than 85,000 military personnel and security forces provide custody to the 108,107 polling stations distributed in 17,432 schools and other venues throughout the country, which will be open until 6:00 p.m. (21:00 GMT) for the electoral act.

Are primary electionsmandatory both for political parties and for voters between the ages of 18 and 70, are the seventh that Argentina celebrates since the adoption of this system with the 2011 elections.

ELECTION TEST

In the primaries, the political forces must obtain at least 1.5% of the votes to be able to compete in the November elections.

Each front or political party can present in the election this Sunday more than one list of candidates to settle their internal differences with the popular vote, but they can also present themselves with a single list of unity and only seek the minimum of 1.5% of the votes to access the October elections.

For these primaries, a record of 27 presidential formulas have been registered, in addition to 3,782 applicants for a seat of deputy and 386 for the Senate.

MORE INFORMATION: Former Argentine FARC guerrilla dies after being arrested during a demonstration in Buenos Aires

Beyond the validation of candidacies for October, this election constitutes a great “survey” on the political tendencies of the Argentine citizens, who are going to the polls in the midst of a complex economic scenario.

The result of the primary is played in four key districts, the most populous in the country: the provinces of Buenos Aires (37% of the national register), Cordova (8.7%) and Santa Fe (8%) and the Argentine capital (7.2%).

COMPLEXITY

Simultaneously with the national ones, this Sunday primaries are held for provincial and municipal positions in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Between rivers and Catamarca.

And concurrently there are also elections in the southern province of Santa Cruzwhere provincial general elections -not primaries- are held, and in the city of Buenos Aires, where primaries are held for head of local government and legislative and communal positions but by an electronic voting system different from that of the national primary, so that the citizens of the capital have to vote twice this Sunday.

ALSO SEE: The violent death of a girl paralyzes the electoral campaign in Argentina

This convergence of elections and the fact that a record number of lists of candidates have been registered make the election process complex and delays in the polling stations and the counting of votes are not ruled out.

From the national government, responsible for the provisional vote count that will take place on Sunday night, they have warned that the start of the dissemination of the first voting data, scheduled from 9:00 p.m. local time (00:00 GMT on Monday), it could be delayed beyond that time.

The definitive scrutiny, in charge of the electoral Justice and the only one with legal validity, will begin next Tuesday.

Source: Elcomercio

jack

I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.