2021 Argentine legislative election

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2021 Argentine legislative election
Argentina
← 2019 14 November 2021
127 of 257 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
24 out of 72 seats in the Senate
Party Leader Current seats
Chamber of Deputies
Frente de Todos Máximo Kirchner
scope="row" style="border-left: 4px solid Template:Cambiemos/meta/color;" | Juntos por el Cambio Mario Negri
scope="row" style="border-left: 4px solid Template:Federal Consensus/meta/color;" | Federal Consensus Alejandro Rodríguez
We Do for Córdoba Carlos Gutiérrez
Front for the Renewal of Concord Ricardo Wellbach
Workers' Left Front – Unity Juan Carlos Giordano
Neuquén People's Movement Alma Sapag
Progressive, Civic and Social Front Luis Contigiani
scope="row" style="border-left: 4px solid Template:Socialist Party (Argentina)/meta/color;" | Socialist Party Enrique Estévez
Together We Are Río Negro Luis Di Giacomo
Senate
Frente de Todos José Mayans
scope="row" style="border-left: 4px solid Template:Cambiemos/meta/color;" | Juntos por el Cambio Luis Petcoff Naidenoff
Federal Parlamentarian Juan Carlos Romero
Front for the Renewal of Concord Magdalena Solari Quintana
Together We Are Río Negro Alberto Weretilneck

Legislative elections are currently scheduled to be held in Argentina on 14 November 2021.[1] Half of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies and a third of the seats in the Senate will be renewed.[2] The election had previously been scheduled to take place on 24 October 2021,[3] but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[1]

Open, Simultaneous and Mandatory Primaries (PASO) were previously scheduled to take place on 8 August 2021, but took place on 12 September 2021, having also been postponed due to COVID-19.[1] There were proposals, backed by the ruling Frente de Todos, to scrap the primaries altogether due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[4] The proposals were opposed by the Juntos por el Cambio opposition.[5] In June 2021, it was agreed to reschedule the primaries alongside the general election instead.[6]

127 out of 257 seats in the lower chamber will be renewed, while eight provinces (Catamarca, Chubut, Córdoba, Corrientes, La Pampa, Mendoza, Santa Fe and Tucumán) will each renew their 3 senators, in total accounting for 24 out of 72 seats in the upper chamber.[2]

Background

Both executive and legislative offices were renewed in 2019 in Argentina; both elections were won by the Frente de Todos, a new coalition formed by a number of Peronist and Kirchnerist parties and alliances (chiefly the Justicialist Party and the Renewal Front)[7] to support the presidential ticket of Alberto Fernández and former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (now Vice President). The Frente de Todos coalition won 64 out of 130 seats up for grabs in the lower house in the last election, thus currently accounting for 120 seats in the 2019–2021 period – 9 seats short of a majority.[8][9]

The second minority and largest force in the opposition is the coalition formed to support former president Mauricio Macri: Juntos por el Cambio (formed by, among others, Republican Proposal, the Radical Civic Union and the Civic Coalition ARI), which won 56 seats in the Chamber of Deputies in 2019 and presently counts with 115 seats, following defections from its inter-bloc.[9][10]

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

As early December 2020, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina prompted discussions on whether the 2021 elections, as well as the Open, Simultaneous and Mandatory Primaries (PASO) should be delayed and rescheduled. A majority of provincial governors (both from the governing Frente de Todos as well as from opposition parties), initially suggested scrapping the PASO primaries altogether.[4] The Juntos por el Cambio-led opposition in Congress, however, opposed the measure and introduced a bill to forbid the national government from cancelling the primaries.[5] The national executive, led by President Alberto Fernández, initially supported the measure,[11] but later reached an agreement with Juntos por el Cambio to reschedule both the primaries and the legislative election for a month later.[12] The new electoral calendar was published on 4 August 2021: the PASO primaries, originally scheduled for 8 August 2021, were rescheduled for 11 September 2021, while the legislative election, originally scheduled for 24 October 2021, were rescheduled for 14 November 2021.[1][13]

In order to hold both elections, in which the all citizens between the ages of 18 and 70 are legally obligated to vote,[14] the government and the National Electoral Chamber established a safety protocol which included a 30% increase of voting places and the vaccination of all electoral authorities.[15] In addition, those who may exhibit COVID-19 symptoms or were in close contact with a positive case may be exempt from voting.[16]

Electoral system

Number of Deputies at stake in each district.
Provinces that will elect Senators in blue.

Chamber of Deputies

The 257 members of the Chamber of Deputies are elected by proportional representation in 24 multi-member constituencies based on the provinces (plus the City of Buenos Aires). Seats are allocated using the d'Hondt method with a 3% electoral threshold.[17] In this election, 127 of the 257 seats are up for renewal for a four-year term.[18]

Province Seats Seats
at stake
Buenos Aires 70 35
City of Buenos Aires 25 13
Catamarca 5 3
Chaco 7 4
Chubut 5 2
Córdoba 18 9
Corrientes 7 3
Entre Ríos 9 5
Formosa 5 2
Jujuy 6 3
La Pampa 5 3
La Rioja 5 2
Mendoza 10 5
Misiones 7 3
Neuquén 5 3
Río Negro 5 2
Salta 7 3
San Juan 6 3
San Luis 5 3
Santa Cruz 5 3
Santa Fe 19 9
Santiago del Estero 7 3
Tierra del Fuego 5 2
Tucumán 9 4
Total 257 127

Senate

The 72 members of the Senate are elected in the same 24 constituencies, with three seats in each. The party receiving the most votes in each constituency wins two seats, with the third seat awarded to the second-placed party.[19] The 2021 elections will see one-third of Senators renewed, with eight provinces electing three Senators; Catamarca, Chubut, Córdoba, Corrientes, La Pampa, Mendoza, Santa Fe and Tucumán.[18]

Current composition

Main articles: List of Argentine deputies, 2019–2021 and List of Argentine senators, 2019–2021

Results

Primary elections

See also: Primary elections in Argentina
Voting booth in Gonnet, Buenos Aires in the 2021 PASO elections.

Open primary elections for legislative posts were held nationwide on 12 September. With this system, all parties run primary elections on a single ballot. All parties must take part in it, both the parties with internal factions and parties with a single candidate list. Citizens may vote for any candidate of any party, but may only cast a single vote. The most voted candidate of parties gaining 1.5% or higher of the valid votes advances to the general election.[20][21]

The results were largely negative for the governing Frente de Todos,[22] which received around 30% of the popular vote nationwide and lost in traditionally Peronist-leaning provinces such as Buenos Aires, Chaco, La Pampa, Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego.[23] With a nationwide aggregate of 42%, Juntos por el Cambio was the most voted alliance in 16 out of 23 provinces and in the City of Buenos Aires, while local parties won in Neuquén (MPN) and Río Negro (JSRN).[24] Nationwide, the Workers' Left Front was the third-most voted alliance, with exceptionally good results in Jujuy (23.31%), the City of Buenos Aires (6.23%) and Buenos Aires Province (5.22%).[25] In fourth place were the right-wing libertarian fronts "Avanza Libertad" and "La Libertad Avanza", which competed in Buenos Aires Province and the City of Buenos Aires (respectively) and received 6.85% of the vote overall, with a particularly strong result in the City, where the front became the third-largest force.[26]

With a turnout of 66.21%, the 2021 primaries had the lowest participation since the implementation of the PASO system in 2011, and were the least-concurred nationwide elections since the return of democracy in 1983.[27]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Heath, Maximilian (7 May 2021). "Argentina pushes back mid-term elections as COVID-19 rages". Reuters. Retrieved 2 June 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ a b "¿Qué se vota en las elecciones de 2021 en Argentina?". MDZ Online (in Spanish). 28 October 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  3. ^ "En medio de la pandemia, el Gobierno confirmó el calendario electoral para el año que viene". infobae (in European Spanish). 29 June 2020. Retrieved 2 June 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ^ a b "La pulseada por las PASO 2021". Página/12 (in Spanish). 20 December 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  5. ^ a b "PASO 2021: una diputada presentó un proyecto para prohibir la suspensión de las primarias". Perfil (in Spanish). 15 December 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  6. ^ "El Senado argentino aprueba la ley para postergar las elecciones por la pandemia". La Nación (in Spanish). 2 June 2021. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  7. ^ El Ali, Julio (27 October 2020). "Se cumple un año de la victoria del Frente de Todos en las elecciones presidenciales". Télam (in Spanish). Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  8. ^ "¿Cómo quedó conformado el Congreso después de las elecciones?". Página/12 (in Spanish). 28 October 2019. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  9. ^ a b "Diputados Nacionales". Honorable Cámara de Diputados de la Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  10. ^ Argento, Analía (30 October 2020). "Después de votar a favor del Presupuesto, un diputado dejó el bloque de Juntos por el Cambio". Infobae (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  11. ^ "El Gobierno avanza con su plan de postergar las PASO y las generales". Perfil (in Spanish). 10 April 2021. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  12. ^ "Con el acuerdo del oficialismo y Juntos por el Cambio, el Congreso se encamina a modificar el calendario electoral". Tiempo Argentino (in Spanish). 19 May 2021. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  13. ^ "Calendario electoral 2021 en la Argentina: las fechas de las elecciones de todo el país". La Nación (in Spanish). 4 August 2021.
  14. ^ "Ley simple: Voto". argentina.gob.ar (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  15. ^ Domínguez, Juan José (3 August 2021). "Elecciones en pandemia: qué medidas tomará el Gobierno nacional para una votación inédita en la Argentina". Chequeado (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  16. ^ "Protocolo para ir a votar en las Elecciones PASO 2021". Infobae (in Spanish). 7 September 2021. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  17. ^ "IPU PARLINE database: ARGENTINA (Cámara de Diputados), Electoral system". archive.ipu.org. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
  18. ^ a b "Elecciones legislativas 2021: ¿Qué se vota y a quiénes se les vence el mandato?". Ámbito (in Spanish). 30 June 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  19. ^ "IPU PARLINE database: ARGENTINA (Senado), Electoral system". archive.ipu.org. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
  20. ^ "What's at stake in Argentina's midterm primary this Sunday". Buenos Aires Times. 10 September 2021. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  21. ^ Wainfeld, Mario (12 September 2021). "Cómo son las PASO y cuánto está en juego". Página/12 (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  22. ^ Grainger, James (13 September 2021). "Argentina's government suffers heavy defeat in PASO primaries". Buenos Aires Times. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  23. ^ Rivas Molina, Federico (12 September 2021). "El kirchnerismo sufre una catástrofe electoral en las primarias en Argentina". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  24. ^ "Mapa electoral:los resultados en todo el país". La Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  25. ^ Soriano, Fernando (12 September 2021). "Celebración y optimismo en el Frente de Izquierda, que se siente a las puertas de una elección histórica en noviembre". Infobae (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  26. ^ "Milei wins 13% of vote in City PASO, taking Avanza Libertad into third". Buenos Aires Times. 13 September 2021. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  27. ^ "Se registró la más baja participación de ciudadanos en las urnas". Télam (in Spanish). 13 September 2021. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
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