Argentina Woos 5 Radical Governors to Suspend Primaries
POLITICS · ARGENTINA
Key Facts
- —The country Argentina, South America’s second-largest economy, is led by President Javier Milei. His party, La Libertad Avanza (LLA), holds 21 of the 72 Senate seats.
- —Why it matters The PASO primaries add a nationwide vote months before the general election. The government argues they prolong uncertainty and can move markets, as in 2019, Infobae reported.
- —Why now After a cabinet meeting led by Milei, officials called October “the deadline” for Senate approval, El Destape reported on Tuesday 6 October.
- —What happened On Monday 5 October the government sped up talks with 5 governors from the Radical Civic Union (UCR), Clarín and Infobae reported. A joint meeting is planned within days.
- —The numbers Suspension needs 37 Senate votes. Officials hope the five governors deliver 7 or 8 senators, Clarín reported. The UCR bloc has 10 senators, the Senate’s own listing shows.
- —What it means for you A deal would remove one election day from Argentina’s 2027 calendar and one source of market swings for holders of Argentine assets.
- —Still open No agreement is signed. Governors want guarantees on local candidacies and money for public works, and Macri’s PRO has not committed.
Argentina’s government has sped up a pact with five Radical governors to suspend the PASO primaries before the 2027 elections. The aim is a Senate vote before the end of October, Clarín and Infobae reported on Monday 5 October. For US investors, scrapping the primaries removes an early national vote that has shaken Argentine markets before.
The PASO primaries are compulsory, nationwide party primaries created by Law 26,571 in 2009. Every voter must take part, even when parties field a single candidate.
Congress already suspended the PASO primaries once, for 2025, through Law 27,783. It was passed on Thursday 20 February 2025 and published in the Boletín Oficial on Friday 7 March 2025.
This is a follow-up to Argentina Seeks Governors’ Votes to Suspend Primaries, which covered the talks as the Paris trip ended.
Who Is Negotiating and With Whom
Cabinet chief Diego Santilli leads the talks, Clarín reported. He works with Eduardo “Lule” Menem, a presidential adviser, and Martín Menem, president of the Chamber of Deputies.
Both Menems act for Karina Milei, the president’s sister and general secretary of the presidency. Patricia Bullrich, who heads the LLA bloc in the Senate, leads the work of building a majority there, Infobae reported.
The first targets are the five governors from the UCR, a centrist party founded in 1891 that now governs five provinces. They are Juan Pablo Valdés of Corrientes, Carlos Sadir of Jujuy and Maximiliano Pullaro of Santa Fe. The others are Alfredo Cornejo of Mendoza and Leandro Zdero of Chaco.
Four of them travelled with Milei to Argentina Week, an investment forum in Paris that ended on Friday 2 October. Pullaro stayed home but had already backed a suspension in public. See also Milei Team Meets 12 Governors at Argentina Week Paris.
“The trip sped up the talks a lot,” an official source told Infobae. “But until we see the hands raised, we will not claim victory.”
Suspend, Not Abolish
Milei wants to abolish the PASO primaries for good. He has called them “a business invented by Néstor Kirchner”, the late Peronist president, Infobae recalled.
The Radical governors mostly accept only a one-off suspension. “I would think we could suspend them again, as already happened, but not eliminate them,” Sadir said, according to Infobae.
Valdés goes further. “We were always against the PASO and we will keep being against the PASO,” he said on 13 August, Infobae recalled. Pullaro argues the national primaries are little used and very costly.
Zdero has already suspended Chaco’s own provincial primaries for 2027. Cornejo said the government could win in a first round in 2027 with good alliances with 10 or 12 governors, El Destape reported.
The Senate Arithmetic
Changing election rules needs an absolute majority of each chamber’s full membership under Argentina’s constitution. In the Senate that means 37 of 72 votes.
The Senate’s own bloc listing shows LLA and the Peronist Justicialista bloc with 21 seats each. The UCR has 10, the PRO 3, and ten smaller blocs share the remaining 17.
The governors influence at least seven of the ten UCR senators, El Destape reported. Even with all of them, LLA would still need more allies from the PRO and provincial parties.
The PRO, the centre-right party of former president Mauricio Macri, is a harder case. The government wants to wait until a dispute between Macri and his cousin Jorge Macri, head of the Buenos Aires city government, settles, Clarín reported.
After the Radicals, Santilli plans one-on-one talks with Peronist governors from the north, according to Clarín and Perfil.
What It Means for You
For investors, fewer election days mean fewer moments of sudden repricing. In August 2019, a PASO result triggered a sharp sell-off in Argentine stocks, bonds and the peso.
A suspension would leave the October 2027 general election as the main test. That would concentrate the political risk of the cycle on a single date.
The talks also tie into the 2027 budget and money for provinces. A broader deal with governors would make it easier for Milei to pass laws in a Congress where he lacks a majority.
For visitors and residents, nothing changes now. Any new rule would only affect the 2027 electoral calendar.
What Is Not Known
The date of the joint meeting with the five governors has not been announced. No bill text for 2027 has been agreed in public, and it is unclear whether it will suspend or abolish the primaries.
Governors want guarantees that LLA will not run strong candidates against them at home, plus funds for public works, El Destape reported. The government has not said what it will offer.
It is also unclear how many senators will follow their governors. A governor’s word does not automatically deliver every senator from that province, Infobae noted.
The Cámara Nacional Electoral, the national electoral court, recommends confirming rule changes a year before a national vote, Clarín reported. That is one reason officials see October as the deadline.
What are Argentina’s PASO primaries?
They are compulsory, nationwide party primaries created in 2009. Every voter must take part, even when a party has only one candidate.
Were the PASO primaries suspended before?
Yes. Law 27,783, published on 7 March 2025, suspended them for the 2025 midterm elections.
How many Senate votes does a suspension need?
It needs 37 of the 72 senators, an absolute majority. Milei’s La Libertad Avanza holds 21 seats.
Sources: Argentine Senate, senators by bloc · Law 27,783, Boletín Oficial · Clarín · Infobae · El Destape · Perfil · El Tribuno
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief