MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Cordoba's dispute, unexpected “gift” for the Kirchner couple

Mayor Luis Juez and Juan Schiaretti

The disputed results of a controversial and tight governor election in the Argentine province of Cordoba, one of the country's main electoral districts, is rapidly becoming another volatile and unpredictable hot issue for President Nestor Kirchner's administration.

Juan Schiaretti last Sunday's victory and proclamation in the first vote count with a 1% difference over Cordoba City Mayor Luis Juez, --amid claims of fraud--, has triggered a recount demand legal battle and calls for "electoral transparency" from the powerful Catholic Church and other political parties. The demands for a vote recount were supported on Thursday by a massive march in downtown Cordoba City, in spite of the provincial government warnings about "infiltrated trouble makers". The legal dispute has reached Cordoba's Supreme Tribunal following an electoral Judge decision confirming Schiaretti's victory and rejecting Juez attorneys' objection of the Judge and the final vote count. The president of the Supreme Tribunal did not discard a vote by vote recount but said that first the electoral law must be respected and that means the final vote count. Acts of proceedings, each of which corresponds to a ballot box (6.000), will be checked in normal office hours "until we've finished", said electoral officials. Córdoba's Public Information Secretary Marcelo Falo said that Juez, "through a false charge of fraud, has created deep concern in our society" describing Juez's actions were "anti-democratic" and "entail a potential coup" in Córdoba. Juez defended his request, insisting that "it is not crazy" but rather a way of "allowing the future governor a sense of calm" so that his mandate is based on "credibility" and "not on doubt." "The only possibility we have is to open the ballot-boxes and count each vote," Juez was quoted in several radio interviews. Several provincial ministers went to the media to hammer on Thursday protest marchers about the "infiltrators' plot" which could lead to "incidents", but even the radical organizations behind the alleged "riot" plans said they openly supported the massive demonstration to challenge Sunday's electoral result. Both Cordoba leaders belong to the same ruling catch-all Peronist party, but in President Kirchner's time and his intention of building his own coalition, Schiaretti is faithful to outgoing governor Jose Manuel De la Sota and Kirchner's plan, while Juez is considered more independent and closer to the more traditional Peronists. To make things even more complicated a fierce battle inside the Kirchner cabinet is also involved in the dispute. Development minister Julio De Vido, who is signaled as an "absent minded manager" of abundant federal funds for public works openly backs Schiaretti, while cabinet secretary and manager of the First Lady Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner presidential campaign Alberto Fernandez feels more comfortable with Juez. Meantime presidential hopeful Roberto Lavagna asked for a fresh election, given all the "irregularities"; the Radical party appealed to the Supreme Tribunal for a vote by vote recount, and Cordoba's bishops called for "calm" and that all "fraud doubts and suspicions" are cleared by the courts to ensure social peace and strengthen institutions. After several days of silence from Buenos Aires Interior minister Anibal Fernandez stated that the Kirchner administration has taken "the appropriate and adequate distance to allow the electoral judges complete the final vote count and following that, hail the winner". But the dispute has become another unexpected hurdle for presidential candidate Cristina Kirchner as have the recent corruption allegations involving several of her husband's ministerial cabinet. Cordoba has the strongest industrial base in Argentina behind Buenos Aires province, and has been the launching pad for several violent uprisings, including the ousting of Argentina's main leader in the last 60 years, Juan Domingo Peron. Cristina's planned smooth run to the October 28 election is becoming increasingly rugged and full of surprises for the Kirchner couple. However they can still count with the performance of a strong economy and an opposition incapable of taking advantage of the emerging vulnerabilities.