Milei proposes electoral reform in Argentina

Among the changes foreseen in the document are the elimination of Open, Simultaneous and Mandatory Primary Elections (PASO, in its original acronym) which, according to him, consume Argentines’ money in favor of “political castes”, and the promotion of a law similar to Brazil’s Ficha Limpa, to prevent the candidacy of people convicted in the second instance for corruption.

“Tomorrow we will send the electoral reform to Congress”, wrote the president on his official profile on X.

The Milei government’s proposal also includes changes to the political party financing system, to increase the requirements for a political group to actually become a party, allow for an increase in limits on private contributions and eliminate campaign spending limits.

If approved, the new rules will establish that district-level groups will have to demonstrate membership equivalent to 0.5% of the electoral register, with a maximum limit of more than two million voters. To obtain national party status, presence in ten districts will be required, twice the number stipulated by current regulations.

The legal status can still be revoked if the party does not reach at least 3% of the voter registration in one of two consecutive elections, according to the bill.

Another highlight in the reform proposal is the creation of a system to verify the selection of candidates through a type of biometric validation. This validation will require each candidate to receive verified endorsements through an official platform, which will use identity authentication methods.

According to the portal Argentine Infobaethe objective of this mechanism will be to eliminate the possibility of creating or strengthening façade political entities, which receive a very low percentage of votes in elections and are supported by inauthentic support.

The primary election system, one of the central points that could hinder the approval of the document, was implemented for the first time in Argentina to define candidates for the 2011 general election, based on a political reform approved by Parliament at the end of 2009, allegedly with the aim of democratizing political representation, transparency and electoral equity.

However, the system has been questioned several times, in particular due to its costs and the complexity of organizing an election with many candidates. According to the EFE agencyin the current system that Milei intends to annul, to be qualified to compete in the general elections, candidates or lists of candidates must reach at least 1.5% of the total votes in these primaries.

All parties are obliged to participate in the primaries, although they do not necessarily need to present more than one list of candidates to define which one will represent them in the general election.

In 2025, Congress, at the initiative of the Milei government, approved a project that suspended PASO for the legislative elections held last year.

Argentina holds presidential midterm elections to partially renew Congress every two years and general elections to elect president and parliamentarians every four years.

Elections must be held in 2027 to choose president and vice-president and to partially renew the composition of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies.