Argentina postpones mid-term elections due to Covid-19 crisis

The Argentine Senate approved legislation postponing the country-'s mid-term elections at the federal level by around one month.

The bill - which enjoyed rare consensus among the country's sharply polarized politics - passed with 55 senators in favor, 3 voting nay, and 2 abstentions.

The bill had passed in the Lower House on May 19 with 223 yeas, 3 nays, and 8 abstentions.

President Alberto Fernández and his center-left, "Front for All" coalition agreed with opposition parties to postpone the first round by five weeks from August 8 to September 12, and the second round by three weeks from October 24 to November 14 - a change initially resisted by the right-wing "Together for Change" coalition, the top opposition caucus.

The proposal was introduced due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which since March has intensified from around 7,000 daily cases to 35,017 today.

Daily Covid-19 deaths was likewise jumped from an average of 126 in March, to 587 today.

"We were able to reach an agreement with the different (legislative) caucuses to push back this year's elections, putting the health and lives of the people first," Interior Minister Enrique de Pedro said in a statement.

Together for Change caucus leader Mario Negri said the decision had been made to wait until more people were vaccinated.

Some 13 million vaccine doses have thus far been given in the country of 45 million, though under 3 million Argentines have received both doses - just 9% of the adult population.

There are 127 seats up for grabs in the lower house (Chamber of Deputies) out of 257, and 24 in the Senate out of 72 seats.

The Front for All has 15 of its 41 Senate seats and 51 out of its 119 House seats at play; Together for Change, 8 of its 25 Senate seats and 60 out of its 115 House seats.

At: https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/argentina-postpones-mid-term-elections-due-to-covid-19-crisis-101620437708706.html

Argentine Interior Minister Enrique "Wado" de Pedro and House Speaker Sergio Massa greet each other on the first day of debate this April on a bill delaying the country's midterm elections by around a month.

The bill, passed overwhelmingly in both houses, postpones elections until later in the Spring - thus helping prevent possible spread of Covid-19 among voters by facilitating better ventilation.

Voting is exclusively in person in Argentina's federal elections, and turnout is expected to be high at nearly 80% of the country's 35 million registered voters.