Argentines are headed to the polls on Sunday, in the country’s first ever simultaneous, open, mandatory primary elections.
Voters will have to choose candidates for president, vice-president, national senators, lawmakers, governors (in four provinces, including crucial Buenos Aires province), mayors and councils.
President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who seeks reelection and running mate and current Economy Minister Amado Boudou, will face 9 candidates ahead of the October 23rd presidential elections.
Although the primaries aim is for voters to choose between different pre-candidates fin each party, all of presidential candidates launched their bids months ago. Thus the primary election will serve as a giant poll in order to determine who will be Fernández de Kirchner’s strongest opposer.
Lawmaker Ricardo Alfonsín, son of late President Raúl Alfonsín, is considered as the strongest contender against the center-left Kirchner administration. Alfonsín, a leader of the Radical Party, has allied with center right deputy Francisco de Nárvaez, who aspires to become the next Buenos Aires province governor. Alfonsín has expressed hopes of making it to the second place.
Santa Fe governor and Socialist candidate Hermes Binner has emerged as one of the strongest candidates. Former caretaker president Eduardo Duhalde, a Peronist, is also expected to show a strong turn, particularly among center-right Peronist voters.
Pre-candidates need to gather at least 400 thousand votes in order to make it as candidates in the October election. Thus, the Leftist Front launched a campaign in which they asked voters not to silence the left wing, which triggered several jokes on social network Twitter, such as #unmilagroparaAltamira (a miracle for Jorge Altamira, the Leftist Front presidential pre-candidate).
Voters were expected to split ballots in order to choose a presidential candidate of one party, governor candidate of another party and so forth.
Polls will open at 8am and close at 6 pm. Although official results are usually announced three hours after closing time, due to the large amount of candidates and posts, the first official results are expected to be announced closed to midnight.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald