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Argentine President Mauricio Macri at a meeting in Buenos Aires on August 6th. REUTERS / Agustin Marcarian / Photo File

Two months before the presidential and legislative elections of October 27, the Argentines are called to the polls for preliminary polls this Sunday, August 11: compulsory and simultaneous primaries for all parties.

With our correspondent in Buenos Aires, Aude Villiers-Moriamé

Today's polls must allow voters to nominate their preferred candidates within each coalition. But in fact, for the presidential election this year anyway, there is no internal competition at each camp.

This Sunday, if all voters must necessarily participate in the vote, it is therefore mainly a life-size poll, which the Argentineans nevertheless take very seriously.

For pensioner Pablo Gonzalez, this is all the interest of the primaries: " It's a real opinion poll, like a first round! There, we know the truth; polls, they lie a lot. "

Fernandez for an alternative to this liberal and non-peronist president

Be fixed on the popularity of the candidates vying for the presidential election. In this case, for the main ones: Mauricio Macri, the current center-right president, and Alberto Fernandez, at the head of a center-left coalition.

Between the two, Alejandro Heredia, a young translator, has already made his choice: " I would like Fernandez to come first. Especially because the past few years have been difficult with the current government. "

Since the arrival of Mauricio Macri, " the state has stopped subsidizing many public services, electricity, water, transport, education ... There have been many negative changes ," adds Alejandro Heredia.

Context: Inflation out of control that recalls memories

A serious economic crisis has hit Argentina again since last year. Catalina Castillo and Valentina Palmeiro are 18 years old, this is the first time they vote this Sunday. But the two friends do not share the same opinions.

On the other hand, both would like to see a theme fit in the heart of the campaign: the economy. " Inflation is huge," recalls one of them. Milk, for example, something essential, costs almost 50 pesos! "

" There are people who can not pay that, " she says, while in one year, inflation has exceeded 55%, and the wages of Argentines have not kept pace. Currently one-third of the population lives below the poverty line.

► See also: Argentina prepares for primaries before general elections