The national deputy for Tucumán and president of the Commission for Social Action and Public Health, Pablo Yedlin, confirmed this Saturday that the modification of the electoral calendar that the President included in the agenda of extraordinary sessions aims to address the suspension of the Open, Simultaneous and Mandatory Primaries (STEP) of August, for only this time, with the excuse of the pandemic.
This was what Clarín had revealed, when obtaining first-hand information from the Chief of Cabinet, despite the fact that parliamentary swords from the Frente de Todos insisted that it was a second order project on the regularization of rules of political parties affected by the longest quarantine in the world.
Yedlin, who responds to the governor of Tucumán, Juan Manzur, admitted that for it to be approved, the project “must have the consensus of the opposition” and expressed his expectation that, in this context, the law that promoted at the request of almost all the PJ governors, plus allies.
“The decree sent to Parliament enables to discuss the modifications to the electoral system and there one could glimpse that the suspension of the PASO could be proposed, which is a project that I presented last December due to the pandemic, but for all this to happen, consensus with the opposition is required, “said the legislator.
The approval of electoral reforms requires the vote of half plus one of the members of each chamber, so the Frente de Todos should strive to align at least in Deputies the allied blocs that it has in the wing of those who entered through the opposition, that is, Lavagnism, the four from Córdoba who respond to Governor Juan Schiaretti, the “ramones” close to Sergio Massa, socialism and the left.
For the moment, the main opposition force, Together for Change, maintains a firm rejection of the suspension of the PASO, considering that it is “a change in the rules of the game”, and understand what it is the main force you want to affect the Government, preventing it from settling its own internal alliance in open primaries.
However, although in the Senate the ruling party has its own majority, even the sector it controls Cristina Kirchner it was not issued. It is understood in sources from the Frente de Todos that if Maximum Kirchner, head of the block of deputies, manages to secure the leadership of the PJ of the province of Buenos Aires, could overturn the decisive support of La Cámpora to the project of suspending the PASO, since that way the control of the lists will be in charge of the authorities of each party and not of the electorate.
In an interview with Télam, Yedlin explained that the decision to debate the calendar “would allow modifying times, deadlines” while the project of his authorship “responds at the request of at least 10 provinces who signed the initiative by virtue of the fact that for the expected date of the PASO, in August, it is estimated that we could be entering a second wave of coronavirus “.
“You have to see the interpretation that is made of the decree sent and based on that seek consensus because as it is about modifying the electoral law, a simple majority is not enough, you have to get 129 votes“, he reviewed.
Regarding the possible suspension of the PASO, he specified that the governors who signed the project “A few days before they spoke with President Alberto Fernández in Olivos and he had told them that it was necessary to find the corresponding agreements “.
Yedlin added that in the event of a suspension of the primaries, it must be taken into account that they are elections that “never significantly modified or configured in a different way, the lists that go after the general elections, as well as the results” .
Although the PASO were created during the first government of Cristina KirchnerAfter the defeat of her husband and former president in the 2009 legislative elections, the official deputy said that “from what is democracy or political representation, the one-time suspension, in the context of a pandemic, cannot bring changes in a significant way and the Argentines could make use of their decision to choose in October, “he remarked.
“The STEPs end up being, the vast majority of the time, a great national poll because later, the list (of candidates) is the same that appears in the general elections, “he insisted.
Asked about the consensus, he replied that “there are some provinces that are more or less in agreement but even the opposition is also divided.”
It is known that the Government pressured the radical governors (Mendoza, Jujuy and Corrientes) to adhere to the project and the response was that they would agree to debate if it is suspended. only the primary of those forces and districts where there is no competition between different candidates.
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