Argentines troop to the polls this Sunday in what, for many, will be their third mandatory outing to the voting booths this year. (And it’s not over yet – Argentines still face one and maybe two obligatory votes yet before the year is out).

This time, voters are being called to take part in Argentina’s first primary election, which goes by the catchy name of “Open, Simultaneous, Obligatory Primaries”. When the government first mooted the idea, some parties still had a couple of rival potential presidential candidates, but that is no longer the case. As such, Sunday’s vote has become, in effect, a state-funded opinion poll ahead of the October 23 presidential election. Or as some in football-mad Argentina have put it, a kind of “semi-final”. Continue reading »