MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Who will receive the presidential sash May 25?

If the Argentine presidential election this coming Sunday is as contested as anticipated by opinion polls and a run off is needed May 18, it's not completely certain that caretaker president Eduardo Duhalde will be handing the presidential sash to his elected successor on May 25 as current legislation anticipates.

Federal Judge Manuel Humberto Blanco, responsible for the definitive polling results in Argentina's greatest electoral circumscription, the province of Buenos Aires with 35% of the roll equivalent to 9,4 million voters, believes there won't be enough time to check and certify election returns, which could then force the Legislative Assembly to name an interim caretaker for the Executive because president Duhalde must leave office May 25.

Once the final results are confirmed by the Judicial and Legislative branches, the new president takes office. However the legal procedure demands that 48 hours must elapse since polling day before ballot boxes are opened to check election results.

"This means ballot boxes will be opened May 20 and we have four days to complete the job. The number of voting posts in the province of Buenos Aires is 25,547 and if any of the two candidates contests results, because it could turn out to be a very tight race, we will have to recount votes that's a long, demanding task", anticipated Judge Blanco. "We'll do our best, but time could be short. On May 24 all election results must be completed and certified, since the maximum electoral authority, Judge María Servini de Cubría must then remit them to the Legislative Assembly that will proceed to proclaim the elected president in time for the May 25 official ceremony", explained Judge Blanco.

According to the Buenos Aires press, Congressional presidents of the Senate and House of Representatives in private admit that a situation could emerge where an interim caretaker president has to be nominated until the final election results become officially definitive. Last November when the acephali bill was reformed and the new electoral timetable agreed, president Duhalde included his resignation dated May 25, to ensure the transparency of the process and to abate critics who claimed he was planning to extend his mandate.

Actually Mr. Duhalde as caretaker president was entitled to complete his predecessor's four year mandate, that is December 2003, but mounting public opinion dissatisfaction with the political system and a worsening financial situation in mid 2002 forced him to advance presidential elections.

Mr. Duhalde was nominated caretaker president by the Legislative Assembly January 2002 following December 2001 street rioting and killings that forced the voluntary exit of elected president Fernando De la Rúa.

Judge Blanco has overseen Argentine federal elections in the province of Buenos Aires in 1989, 1995 and 1999; provincial elections in 1987, 1991, 1995 and 1999; two plebiscites and two constitutional assemblies