Passing up PASO

[MilHojas]

Passing up PASO

The PASO primaries system now stands at a crossroads between postponement, suspension and even elimination. Neither the government nor the opposition speak with a single voice on this issue where public health realities are as much a factor as political preferences.

www.batimes.com.ar

 

[antipodean]

The grave problem with changing rules of democracy willy nilly is that usually it ends up resulting in less democracy, less respect for institutions, and ultimately less confidence and more mess.

The political class here rarely if ever make decisions not based on their own political and financial gains. This one is no different - politicians don’t want to be taken by suprise and land up out of the job or needing to make new friends to win over coalitions that may demand compromises on personal projects or ambitions. Angry voters who may demand more radical changes to the same-old same-old are not democratic voters, it seems. Only voters with meat on the Parilla can really be democratic - the problem is that statement doesn’t sound very democratic so best to find another pretext to make it democratic.

The health situation simply cannot be used as a pretext especially when more at risk people will have been vaccinated by then and the peak we are going into now will almost certainly be declining by then. Polling booths can also follow protocols just like restaurants, shops, schools, testing centers or government offices already can and have been doing for many months without major issue.

 

[elhombresinnombre]

I don't understand the PASO. In a political system such as that in the USA it makes sense to me that card-carrying members of political parties should vote for who they want to represent their party when the whole nation votes but invoking compulsion and requiring every voter to express a preference before the election just seems like nothing more than a dress rehearsal.

 

[FrankPintor]

I don't understand the PASO. In a political system such as that in the USA it makes sense to me that card-carrying members of political parties should vote for who they want to represent their party when the whole nation votes but invoking compulsion and requiring every voter to express a preference before the election just seems like nothing more than a dress rehearsal.

Even worse than that, at the presidential PASO the then president, Macri, was left as a lame duck until he handed over to Fernandez almost 4 months later. It's truly a brain-damaged stupid type of idea.