Overview

• Argentina’s first presidential debate took place on October 4, 2015 at the UBA Faculty of Law, featuring Mauricio Macri, Sergio Massa, Nicolás del Caño, Margarita Stolbizer, and Adolfo Rodríguez Saá.
• Daniel Scioli, the officialist candidate in 2015, did not attend the initial debate, which was broadcast simultaneously on two television channels.
• In 2016, Congress enacted Law 27.337 requiring presidential candidates who clear primary thresholds to participate in debates as part of the electoral calendar.
• Coverage recalls October 4, 1878, when Congress approved funding that launched the Conquest of the Desert, the campaign led by Julio Argentino Roca against Indigenous peoples in Patagonia.
• The date also marks the 2009 death of singer Mercedes Sosa, whose funeral was held in Congress, and is observed as World Animal Day.