The state votes to select future presidential candidates

Weary of inflation and disenchanted with their politics, Argentines began voting Sunday (August 13) in the primary to nominate candidates for October’s presidential election, a ballot with an uncertain outcome to succeed Alberto Fernandez, the center-left runner-up. who will never run again.

More than 35 million voters are invited to pre-select each of the two parties running in the October 22 presidential election – which requires 1.5% of the vote – and their candidates. Like normal size, double sounding.

Polling stations, which opened at 8am local time (1pm CET), will welcome Argentines until 6pm (11pm CET), and the first results should be known around 3am, Paris time.

Sergio Massa secured the win on the left of centre

Who really wants to lead Argentina, the third largest economy in Latin America with amazing potential in agriculture and raw materials, but a long-term disease on the continent? Stuck in double digit inflation for twelve years, +115% in one year, massive indebtedness to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), poverty at 40%.

22 “President and Vice President” tickets are vying for the position. There will be only half a dozen left on Sunday evening for October 22nd, including two dominant blocs, from which the next president must emerge. The outgoing, highly unpopular Alberto Fernandez, is not representing himself.

In the center-left government camp, Sergio Massa, the 51-year-old economy minister, is sure to win the primaries, despite a slim candidacy from his left. Centrist Massa managed to rally the Peronist camp and keep the IMF on the ear. However, the fact of managing the economy in intensive care for a year plays against him.

Unknown senior on the right

In the right-wing opposition, a tight primary pits the mayor of Buenos Aires since 2015, Horacio Larreta, 57, who portrays himself as a moderate and follower of deliberations, against the former security minister, Patricia Bullrich, 67, who knocks on promises. “shock”both in terms of economy and safety. “It is the great unknown. Who will be chosen between Mr. Larita and Mr.^I Bullrich? This election is very open, and this outcome will define the new electoral landscape.judges independent political scientist Carlos Varra.

A major concern of open, simultaneous, and mandatory (PASO) primaries is to give direction and a measure of the state of power, and sometimes foreshadow presidential elections. This was the case in 2019, when the primary result for Alberto Fernandez – the only pre-candidate of the Peronist camp – foreshadowed his presidential victory over Mauricio Macri. But appearance “scan normal size” Play only if there is a big gap, as a lot can still happen in two months of the campaign.

Appease or disappointment?

But already, PASO 2023 marks a break, with the absence of two dominant figures in Argentine political life in recent years: Peronist Cristina Kirchner, 70, former head of state (2007-2015), and Mauricio Macri, 64, liberal. The boss he succeeded in 2015, before being defeated by Alberto Fernandez in 2019.

Could the withdrawal of these two great rivals, feuding and divisive personalities, herald a respite from the sharp polarization of Argentine politics? Unless he was referring to a general disappointment, after two very contrasting presidencies, one liberal and the other interventionist, both of which were bitterly disappointing.

“I want a government that restores the economy, but I know that it will take time, we have a lot of debt, and it will not be easy to recover what was lost in light of other debts. I also want a government that listens to the youth!”Agence France-Presse, two days before the elections, announced that Agustina Rossi, a 16-year-old student in Buenos Aires, is going to vote for the first time. “There is growing dissatisfaction with voters, in a country marked by political identities.”, diagnoses Juan Negri, professor of political science at the University of Torcuato de Tila. Analysts expect strong abstention, at more than 25%, despite the compulsory nature of the vote.

Unless this disillusionment helps “The Third Man”Ultra-liberal economist Javier Milli, with a fiery speech against “layer” Politics that caused a stir in the 2021 legislative elections, and his party became the third force in Buenos Aires (17.3%). But who could struggle to replicate this effect nationally?

At the same time as the presidential candidates, Argentines voted on Sunday to choose candidates for the House of Representatives and the Senate, which will be partially renewed during the polls on October 22.