2023 Argentine primary elections

On 13 August 2023, the Simultaneous and Mandatory Open Primaries (PASO) were held in Argentina to determine candidatures for national offices in the presidential and legislative elections on 22 October 2023. It was the first election where Peronism lost and ended in third place.

Background
In these primary elections, the candidates for President of Argentina and national legislators (national senators and deputies) will be elected. However, the fronts that will compete independently, to be qualified for the general elections in October, must meet the requirement of reaching at least 1.5% of the valid votes. While in the fronts with several candidates, the candidate with the most votes with the aforementioned minimum is enabled.

The elections for provincial offices (governors, provincial deputies, provincial senators, etc.) and municipal (mayors, councilors, etc.) are independent of the elections for national offices and may or may not be held on the same dates.

Citizens of 16 years of age and also people of 15 years of age who turn before October 27 (with the exception of the province of Córdoba) will also be authorized to vote.

The Simultaneous and Mandatory Open Primaries (PASO) will be held on 13 August 2023. With this system, the candidates are elected within each alliance, in the same mandatory electoral act, in which citizens can vote for any pre-candidate from any party, but they can only cast one vote. When there is more than one pre-candidate per alliance, the one that obtains the most votes will be chosen as that alliance's candidate for the general elections, to be held two months later. The PASO also define which forces can appear in the general elections, since only those that obtain a minimum of 1.5% of the valid votes can do so.

It had the particularity that in the City of Buenos Aires (CABA), to vote for the head of the Buenos Aires government, an electronic ballot was used.

Reactions
Milei and his coalition's win achieved international recognition and headlines, from The New York Times to El País and Latin American media and Asian news agencies, which reported on Milei's surprise win and the uncertain electoral scenario in Argentina for the 2023 October general election. Analysts saw his win as the voters being frustrated by both Peronist and non-Peronist governments.