2023 Argentine primary elections

On 13 August 2023,^[1][2] 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.^[3]

2023 Argentine primary elections

13 August 2023
Presidential primary
← 2019
Opinion polls
Registered	35,405,013
Turnout	70.43%
Nominee Javier Milei Sergio Massa Patricia Bullrich Party PL FR PRO Alliance LLA UP JxC Running mate Victoria Villarruel Agustín Rossi Luis Petri States carried 16 5 2 + CABA Popular vote 7,352,244 5,277,538 4,139,566 Percentage 29.86% 21.43% 16.81%   Nominee Horacio Rodríguez Larreta Juan Grabois Party PRO FPG Alliance JxC UP Running mate Gerardo Morales Paula Abal Medina States carried 0 0 Popular vote 2,756,375 1,441,504 Percentage 11.19% 5.85%
Results by province Results by department
Legislative primary
← 2021 2025 →

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.

Lists

Presidential

Alliance		List			Pre-Candidates		Ref.
					President	Vice President
	Union for the Homeland		134 A	Celeste y Blanca	Sergio Massa	Agustín Rossi	[4]
			134 B	Justa y Soberana	Juan Grabois	Paula Abal Medina
	Juntos por el Cambio		132 A	El Cambio de Nuestras Vidas	Horacio Rodríguez Larreta	Gerardo Morales
			132 B	La Fuerza del Cambio	Patricia Bullrich	Luis Petri
	La Libertad Avanza		135 A	Libertad por Siempre	Javier Milei	Victoria Villarruel
	Workers' Left Front		136 A	Unir y Fortalecer a la Izquierda	Myriam Bregman	Nicolás del Caño
			136 B	Unidad de Luchadores y la Izquierda	Gabriel Solano	Vilma Ripoll
	Hacemos por Nuestro País		133 A	Hacemos	Juan Schiaretti	Florencio Randazzo
	Principles and Values		137 1A	Tierra, Techo y Trabajo	Guillermo Moreno	Leonardo Fabre
			137 2B	Transformar	Eliodoro Martínez	Vicente Souto
			137 3C	Tres Banderas	Jorge Oliver	Ezequiel San Martín
			137 4D	Gente de Trabajo	Carina Bartolini	Mabel Gómez
			137 5E	Laborista	Paula Arias	Walter Vera
	Frente Liber.AR		131 A	Demos	Nazareno Etchepare	Fernando Lorenzo
			131 B	Reconquista	Ramiro Vasena	Aníbal Lagonegro
			131 C	Anticorrupción	Julio Bárbaro	Ramona Pucheta
	Freemen of the South		40 A	Azul y Rojo	Jesús Escobar	Marianella Lezama Hid
	New Movement for Socialism		13	Izquierda Anticapitalista	Manuela Castañeira	Lucas Ruiz
	Política Obrera		92	Unidad Obrera	Marcelo Ramal	Patricia Urones
	Youth and Dignity Left Movement		90 A	Dignidad	Raúl Castells	Adriana Reinoso
			90 B	Confederal	Santiago Cúneo	Gustavo Barranco
	Proyecto Joven		94 A	Coalición Paz, Democracia y Soberania	Mempo Giardinelli	Bárbara Solernou
			94 B	Patria Unida	Martín Ayerbe	Hugo Rodríguez
			94 C	Todex	Reina Xiomara Ibáñez	Gonzalo Ibarra
	Federal Patriot Front		95	Primero la Patria	César Biondini	Mariel Avedaño
	Union of the Democratic Centre		20 A	Apertura Liberal Argentina	Andrés Passamonti	Pamela Fernández
	Neighborhood Action Movement		57	Compromiso Vecinal	Raúl Albarracín	Sergio Pastore

Election day

Turnout

Primary	Hour									Final	Ref(s).
	12:00	+/-	14:00	15:00	+/-	16:00	17:00	+/-	18:20
2019	30%	2%	42%	48%	0%	58%	66%	4.5%	—	76.4%	[5]
2023	28%		—	48%		—	61.5%		66%	69,6%	[6][7][8][9]

Results

Presidential primaries

Party		Presidential candidate	Running mate	Candidate votes		Overall votes
				Votes	%	Votes	%
	La Libertad Avanza	Javier Milei	Victoria Villarruel	7,352,244	29.86	7,352,244	29.86
	Together for Change	Patricia Bullrich	Luis Petri	4,139,566	16.81	6,895,941	28.00
		Horacio Rodríguez Larreta	Gerardo Morales	2,756,375	11.19
	Union for the Homeland	Sergio Massa	Agustín Rossi	5,277,538	21.43	6,719,042	27.28
		Juan Grabois	Paula Abal Medina	1,441,504	5.85
	We Do for Our Country	Juan Schiaretti	Florencio Randazzo	914,812	3.71	914,812	3.71
	Left and Worker's Front-Unity	Myriam Bregman	Nicolás del Caño	451,275	1.83	642,773	2.61
		Gabriel Solano	Vilma Ripoll	191,498	0.78
	Principles and Values	Guillermo Moreno	Leonardo Fabre	189,756	0.77	194,160	0.79
		Eliodoro Martínez	Vicente Souto	2,516	0.01
		Paula Arias	Walter Vera	1,507	0.01
		Jorge Oliver	Ezequiel San Martín	197	0.00
		Carina Bartolini	Mabel Gómez	184	0.00
	Freemen of the South Movement	Jesús Escobar	Marianella Lezama Hid	158,840	0.65	158,840	0.65
	New Movement for Socialism	Manuela Castañeira	Lucas Ruiz	87,681	0.36	87,681	0.36
	Youth and Dignity Left Movement	Santiago Cúneo	Gustavo Barranco	57,754	0.23	84,361	0.34
		Raúl Castells	Adriana Reinoso	26,607	0.11
	Workers' Party	Marcelo Ramal	Patricia Urones	64,213	0.26	64,213	0.26
	Federal Patriot Front	César Biondini	Mariel Avedaño	51,850	0.21	51,850	0.21
	Neighbourhood Action Movement	Raúl Albarracín	Sergio Pastore	43,480	0.18	43,480	0.18
	Youth Project	Mempo Giardinelli	Bárbara Solernou	11,944	0.05	24,304	0.10
		Martín Ayerbe	Hugo Rodríguez	8,829	0.04
		Reina Xiomara Ibáñez	Gonzalo Ibarra	3,531	0.01
	Liber.AR	Ramiro Vasena	Aníbal Lagonegro	12,990	0.05	23,554	0.10
		Nazareno Etchepare	Fernando Lorenzo	7,732	0.03
		Julio Bárbaro	Ramona Pucheta	2,832	0.01
	Union of the Democratic Centre	Andrés Passamonti	Pamela Fernández	12,041	0.05	12,041	0.05
Blank votes						1,356,480	5.51
Total						24,625,776	100
Valid votes						24,625,776	98.76
Invalid votes						309,807	1.24
Total votes						24,935,583	100
Registered voters/turnout						35,405,013	70.43
Source:[10][11]

Legislative primaries

Chamber of Deputies

Party or alliance				Votes	%
	Together for Change		The Force of Change (Patricia Bullrich)[a]	3,188,982	15.09
			The Change of Our Lives (Horacio Rodríguez Larreta)[b]	2,389,539	11.31
			Together for Change[c]	666,070	3.15
			Corrientes Meeting	210,239	1.00
			Wake Up Chubut	66,465	0.31
			Radical Civic Union[d]	16,528	0.08
			UNIR Constitutional Nationalist Party	2,193	0.01
			Salta Renewal Party	2,062	0.01
		Total		6,542,078	30.97
	Union for the Homeland		Celestial and White (Sergio Massa)[e]	4,615,399	21.85
			Union for the Homeland[f]	725,777	3.44
			Civic Front for Santiago	271,519	1.29
			October 17th	195,009	0.92
			Union for Salta	80,886	0.38
			Let's Go San Juan	72,453	0.34
			Union for Victory	68,388	0.32
			Union for Chubut	61,179	0.29
			San Juan Comes Back	58,696	0.28
			Renewal Unity	37,980	0.18
			Union for Jujuy	34,204	0.16
			Santa Cruz Agreement	17,937	0.08
			Let's Build Together	14,287	0.07
			Union for the Happiness of Salta	9,533	0.05
			The María Eva	9,083	0.04
			Rebuild Chubut	3,638	0.02
		Total		6,275,968	29.71
	La Libertad Avanza		La Libertad Avanza	5,003,813	23.68
			Ahora Patria	312,289	1.48
			Republican Force	261,028	1.24
			Partido Renovador Federal	141,173	0.67
			Partido Fe	134,656	0.64
			Arriba Neuquén	132,991	0.63
			Light Blue and White Union	125,077	0.59
			Republicanos Unidos	29,886	0.14
			Fuerza Liberal	8,939	0.04
		Total		6,149,852	29.11
	Hacemos por Nuestro País		Hacemos por Nuestro País	709,431	3.36
			Christian Democratic Party[g]	16,109	0.08
			Aptitud Renovadora	15,465	0.07
			Federal Commitment	13,051	0.06
			Partido Autonomista[h]	10,648	0.05
			Socialist Party[i]	8,058	0.04
			Partido Unión y Libertad	6,553	0.03
			Federal Popular Union[j]	6,222	0.03
			Nuevo Espacio de Opinión	2,215	0.01
			Nueve de Julio	2,203	0.01
			Patria Grande	1,987	0.01
			Santiago lo Merece	1,387	0.01
			Santiago Autonomista	1,197	0.01
		Total		794,526	3.76
	Workers' Left Front		Unir y Fortalecer a la Izquierda (PTS–IS)	428,898	2.03
			Unidad de Luchadores y la Izquierda (PO–MST)	186,610	0.88
			Party of Workers	7,576	0.04
			New Left	6,684	0.03
		Total		629,768	2.98
	Freemen of the South Movement		Freemen of the South Movement	126,983	0.60
			Libres y Socialistas	12,419	0.06
		Total		139,402	0.66
	Principles and Values		Tierra, Techo y Trabajo (Guillermo Moreno)[k]	54,537	0.26
			Gobernar es Crear Trabajo	21,787	0.10
			Santa Fe Primero	7,298	0.03
			Unidad Santafesina	5,526	0.03
			Por los Principios Sociales	4,732	0.02
			Partido Popular	3,665	0.02
			Movimiento Integración Latinoamericana de Expresión Social	3,318	0.02
			Producción y Trabajo	2,154	0.01
			Producción y Justicia Social	2,273	0.01
			Por Club, Capilla y Colegio	1,860	0.01
			La Nueva Santa Fe	1,440	0.01
			Ciudadanos	1,130	0.01
			Unidos por la Gente	1,067	0.01
			Crezcamos por Santa Fe	837	0.00
			Voces Libertarias SdE	783	0.00
			Recuperando Nuestra Cultura	629	0.00
			Por los Valores	255	0.00
		Total		113,291	0.54
	New MAS			50,052	0.24
	Youth and Dignity Left Movement		Confederal (Santiago Cúneo)	25,309	0.12
			Dignidad (Raúl Castells)	10,424	0.05
			Santa Fe Segura	1,579	0.01
		Total		37,312	0.18
	Together We Are Río Negro			36,762	0.17
	Neuquén People's Movement		Neuquén País	30,737	0.15
			Unidos por Neuquén	5,264	0.02
		Total		36,001	0.17
	Política Obrera			35,330	0.17
	Renewal Front[l]			24,089	0.11
	Patriot Front			23,193	0.11
	Nueva Unión Celeste			21,381	0.10
	Partido Agrario y Social			21,098	0.10
	Salta Independiente			16,897	0.08
	Libertarian Party			14,023	0.07
	Proyecto Joven		Paz, Democracia y Soberanía	6,530	0.03
			Frente Joven	1,747	0.01
			Unidos	1,330	0.01
			Patria Unida (Martín Ayerbe)	1,019	0.00
			Nuevas Ideas	587	0.00
			Centro, Norte y Sur Unidos	567	0.00
			Jóvenes en Acción	466	0.00
			Viva la Libertad	244	0.00
			Patria y Futuro	175	0.00
			DEMOS Libertad	123	0.00
		Total		12,788	0.06
	Encuentro Republicano Federal		Movimiento Viable	5,516	0.03
			Moderado	1,658	0.01
			Republicano Popular	1,126	0.01
			DEMOS	878	0.00
			Despierta Santiago	570	0.00
		Total		9,748	0.05
	Buenos Aires Primero			9,044	0.04
	Construyendo Porvenir			8,590	0.04
	Somos Fueguinos			8,562	0.04
	Por Santa Cruz			8,283	0.04
	Frente Amplio por la Soberanía			7,627	0.04
	Nuevo Rumbo		Federal Commitment	1,979	0.01
			Por los Valores	1,836	0.01
			Recreo Social	1,818	0.01
			Vecinos con Rumbo	1,718	0.01
		Total		7,351	0.03
	Corriente de Pensamiento Bonaerense			7,347	0.03
	Política Abierta para la Integridad Social		Primero Santa Fe	2,541	0.01
			Con los Mismos, No	1,951	0.01
			Azul Única	1,541	0.01
		Total		6,033	0.03
	Partido Fe		Nuevo Horizonte	2,577	0.01
			Vamos con Fe	2,123	0.01
			Siempre con Fe	1,279	0.01
		Total		5,979	0.03
	Partido Todos por Buenos Aires			5,443	0.03
	Confianza Pública			5,343	0.03
	Partido Autonomista[m]		Futuro Mejor	1,756	0.01
			Dignidad Animal	1,293	0.01
			Autonomista en Marcha	1,239	0.01
			Renacer	1,045	0.00
		Total		5,333	0.03
	Movimiento de Organización Democrática			4,891	0.02
	Union of the Democratic Centre		La Libertad Primero	3,462	0.02
			Union of the Democratic Centre	835	0.00
		Total		4,297	0.02
	Democratic Party			4,277	0.02
	Partido Unidad Social			4,193	0.02
	Frente Federal de Acción Solidaria			3,963	0.02
	Frente Liber.AR		Demos (Nazareno Etchepare)	2,766	0.01
			Anticorruption (Julio Bárbaro)[n]	1,184	0.01
		Total		3,950	0.02
	Frente Integrador			3,811	0.02
	Movimiento Independiente Renovador			3,283	0.02
	Estamos			3,395	0.02
	Justicia y Dignidad Patriotica			2,756	0.01
	Movimiento de Acción Vecinal			2,596	0.01
	Republicanos Unidos			2,341	0.01
	Generation for a National Encounter			2,215	0.01
	Christian Democratic Party[o]			1,990	0.01
	Renewal Crusade			1,943	0.01
	Movimiento de Jubilados y Juventud			1,942	0.01
	La Nueva Independencia			1,926	0.01
	Humanist Party			1,923	0.01
	Labour Party		Libertad y Trabajo	1,394	0.01
			La Clase Obrera	184	0.00
			Frente Laborista	150	0.00
		Total		1,728	0.01
	Partido Tres Banderas		Soberanía	696	0.00
			Por La Justicia	328	0.00
			Independencia	318	0.00
		Total		1,342	0.01
	Auténticos Liberales Catamarca		Libertarios	9	0.00
			Liberar y Popular	6	0.00
		Total		15	0.00
Total				21,127,271	100.00

1. incl. Sumamos Fuerzas en Santa Cruz, Gana Catamarca
2. Podés Confiar, Sigamos Cambiando Jujuy, Juntos por La Pampa, Cambia San Juan
3. Entre Ríos, Mendoza, Chaco
4. Radical Change, UCR A Real Path
5. Buenos Aires, Catamarca, Cordoba, Corrientes, Formosa, Jujuy, La Rioja, Mendoza, Neuquén, Río Negro, Tierra del Fuego, Tucumán
6. Capital Federal, Entre Ríos, La Pampa, Misiones, San Luis, Santa Fe
7. incl. Foro Social Cristiano
8. in Salta
9. incl. Hacemos Juntos
10. in Misiones
11. incl. Populares Cba
12. in Santiago del Estero
13. in Santa Fe
14. Campo Popular in Córdoba
15. in Capital Federal

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.^[12] Analysts saw his win as the voters being frustrated by both Peronist and non-Peronist governments.^[13]

See also

• 2023 Argentine general election
• 2023 Argentine provincial elections