MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine opposition agrees to postponing primary, general elections

Minister Wado De Pedro asked for JxC's spport rescheduling the elections amid the coronavirus crisis.

The Juntos por el Cambio (Together for Change - JxC) opposition coalition Thursday agreed to reschedule this year's primary and general mid-term election to allow for a better anti-covid-19 campaign, it was announced.

JxC expressed its “interest in contributing to the better management of the pandemic and, at the same time, respecting the electoral norms in force with the guarantee of the primary elections that are now enshrined into law.”

The opposition bloc thus gave its support to the Frente de Todos (Everybody's Front - FdT) ruling party's proposal to postpone the primary elections (PASO) until September and the general elections until November when half of the seats in the House of Deputies and a third of the Senate are to be renewed.

The suggestion to reschedule the polls had been submitted by Interior Minister Eduardo “Wado” de Pedro to the JxC leaders a fortnight ago to postpone the primary elections from August 9 to September 12 and the general elections from October 24 to November 14.

JxC also said in a letter to De Pedro that “we have always held that the rules of the game and their predictability must have broad consensus and are sacred to democracy.” The statement was supported by the three parties that make up Together for Change: the Radical Civic Union (UCR), former President Mauricio Macri's PRO and Elisa Carrio's Civic Coalition.

This agreement will make it possible to have a new law passed before May 10, which is the deadline for the scheduling of the PASO elections so that political forces put forward their candidates for the 127 seats in the House of Deputies and 24 on the Senate.

With JxC's endorsement, FdT should secure the minimum 129 votes needed in the Lower House and they are also supposed to have a Senatorial majority.