The Buenos Aires Legislature approved today, almost unanimously, the project to suspend the Open, Simultaneous, and Mandatory Primaries (PASO) for this year. With 55 votes in favor, three against, and one abstention, they aligned with the decision of the national Congress. This measure means that political parties must define their candidacies through internal mechanisms, without citizen intervention.
The Government of the City of Buenos Aires argued that the suspension was due to the fiscal costs of organizing the elections and low participation in previous PASO. The vote took place while the head of government, Jorge Macri, was in Asuncion, Paraguay, presiding over the Union of Ibero-American Capital Cities.
"If the 18 deputies of Peronism had voted with the Left Front, this manipulation of the electoral process would not have been established. And it is serious," lamented Gabriel Solano of the Workers’ Party (FIT), the only bloc that voted against it. The suspension of PASO means that electoral rules are at the discretion of the parties, without the obligation to hold primary elections as initially planned.
