Government steers PASO suspension through Chamber of Deputies

President Javier Milei’s government has surmounted its first parliamentary challenge of the year, winning approval in the lower house for a bill that would suspend the PASO (Primarias, Abiertas, Simultáneas y Obligatorias) primaries in this year’s elections.

After a six-hour debate marking the beginning of extraordinary sessions of Congress, the bill scored 162 votes in favour against 55 nays and 28 abstentions. 

It now passes to the Senate, with the government is now halfway towards proceeding directly to the October 27 midterms without primaries.

Arguing both fiscal savings and the electoral convenience of skipping the PASO primaries, the Milei government profited from divisions in various opposition caucuses such as the Unión Cívica Radical, the Encuentro Federal inland deputies and even the Unión por la Patria (UxP) Kirchnerites.

Milei met up with his team of ministers and top aides prior to the debate of the electoral reform – and initiatives concerning trials in absentia and recidivism – with the Casa Rosada confident as to being able to suspend the primaries.

La Libertad Avanza triumphed in its first challenge before the vote in obtaining the mínimum quorum for debate, for which an absolute majority of 129 votes was needed (also to approve the bill as electoral legislation).

At the plenary committee meeting approval was clinched at the last minute thanks to the government’s negotiations via Cabinet chief Guillermo Francos with three governors: the Kirchnerites Raúl Jalil (Catamarca) and Gerardo Zamora (Santiago del Estero) and the Peronist Martín Llaryora (Córdoba).

The initiative had been sent by the government last November, proposing the elimination of the PASO primaries altogether, as well as changes in the Constitution and the financing of political parties. 

Lacking support for total  elimination, the government arrived at a consensus with allies and moderates, yielding to a suspension of this year’s primaries before the midterms. The 60 articles of the original text were reduced to five.

The bill regarding trials in absentia had already been approved for debate on the House floor last November 19. It proposes amending Article 104 of the Criminal Code to permit the trial of those accused of serious crimes when they do not show up or are on the run (as is the case with the authors of the 1994 attack on the AMIA Jewish community centre). 

Finally, the new legislative framework for the concepts of recidivism is to be debated, proposing changes in Articles 50 and 58 of the Criminal Code.

– TIMES/NA/PERFIL