MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Opposition governors give thumbs down to electronic vote reform for 2017
Salta Governor Juan Manuel Urtubey does not believe in herds of lawmakers reined in for a unified vote. Argentine province governors of the opposition Justicialist (Peronist) Party now embodied in the Kirchnerite Victory Front (FpV) Thursday instructed their representatives on the national Senate to vote against President Mauricio Macri's proposal for an reform that would include electronic voting tickets.
Although it was not conclusive, a source from the FpV bloc on the Senate anticipated that the issue will not be discussed during extraordinary parliamentary sessions (between Dec. 1 and Feb. 28). Thus the bill will be locked in Congress and the paper ballot is set to remain the rule for the 2017 mid-term elections. “It's impossible to bring that [electoral reform] into extraordinary [parliamentary sessions],” a key FpV-PJ said.
San Juan Deputy Jose Luis Gioja was also at the meeting as chairman of the Justicialist Party. He said the bill, as it is now, would be halted as soon as it entered the Lower House. According to Gioja, the idea is not to sink the bill altogether but it is temporarily impossible to reach an agreement.
After the meeting, the senators issued only a formal statement: “The bloc will continue analyzing tools to improve the electoral system, guaranteeing full reliability of results and facilitating political competition for all democratic forces involved in Argentine politics.”
Salta Governor Juan Manuel Urtubey explained why he did not attend the meeting: “I have decided not to attend the meeting called for this Thursday [because] ... everyone knows my deep vocation that political reform” and added that he does not believe “in meetings that seek to generate a uniform vote.”
“Each of the actors should bear responsibility for what he thinks and thus avoid delays that are never clear,” Urutubey said.
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Read all comments@chris
Nov 27th, 2016 - 09:39 am +2Again, Chris come to our rescue by informing us that Peronism is a “cancer” that must be “cut out” or “irradiated.”
How democratic. Or is democracy an occasional system to be used when convenient only?
Anyway. If we eliminate Peronism who are we left with?
Macrism?
Good grief!
As expected, peronism is always opposing changes and advances.
Nov 25th, 2016 - 04:32 pm 0They rejected the use of electronic banking summaries, they rejected Uber and now this rejection. To reject the double control that implies a ballot with electronic chip is another example that the peronism does not want a transparent, and safe, electoral processes.
Peronism, as always, “delaying” the clock. That is why Argentina began its delaying process with the rise of peronism and today, today Argentina is 70 years behind schedule !!!
How is that a “doble security” system (paper and chip) is weaker than a “single security” system (only paper)?
Nov 25th, 2016 - 05:07 pm 0The proposed system is not an electronic vote is a ballot that includes a chip so both, paper and chip, work together to make the count safer.
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