PASO 2023: Patricia Bullrich criticizes the electronic vote imposed by Rodríguez Larreta

The presidential candidate of the opposition coalition Together for Change (center right) Patricia Bullrich criticized the electronic voting system in Buenos Aires imposed by the mayor of the capital, Horacio Rodriguez Larretahis rival in the primaries which are celebrated this Sunday in Argentina.

“The city vote Buenos Aires it was a disaster”, Bullrich asserted after casting his vote with many difficulties in the precinct of the ruralcenter of fairs and exhibitions of the Argentine capital.

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This Sunday, concurrently with the national primaries -for which paper ballots are used-, the city of Buenos Aires celebrates local primaries but using an electronic voting system by decision of Rodríguez Larreta, who has governed the capital since 2015 .

Argentine presidential candidate for the Together for Change party, Patricia Bullrich, casts her vote during the primary elections at a polling station in Buenos Aires on August 13, 2023. (Photo by JUAN MABROMATA / AFP) (JUAN MABROMATA /)

This means that the citizens of the capital must vote twice, which has generated delays in the voting centers that have already been warned by the electoral Justice.

In the case of Bullrich, whose vote was followed live by several television channels, his vote through the electronic system was delayed for almost half an hour because the voting machine did not work correctly.

In subsequent statements to the press, Bullrich recounted that he tried seven times to use the machine without luck – he said that he clicked on a list on the screen and another would appear on the system – and managed to cast his vote when an operator changed machines.

“It was a negative experience because I had to try voting eight times. I was like half an hour”, lamented the candidate, who denounced that the technical operator ended up seeing who she was voting for.

With 2.5 million voters, the city of Buenos Aires is the fourth largest electoral district in Argentinawith a weight of 7.2% in the national voting register.

Bullrich disputes this Sunday the presidential candidacy in Together for Change with the mayor of Buenos Aires and, like his rival, integrates Republican Proposal (Pro), a party of which the former Argentine president is also a part Mauricio Macri (2015-2019).

Of Peronist origin and become one of the harshest voices in the political arena, Bullrich held the Labor and Security portfolios during the government of the radical Fernando de la Rua (1999-2001) and served as Minister of Security in the Macri Government.

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Some 35.4 million Argentines are summoned to define with their vote the lists of candidates that will be qualified to compete in the general elections on October 22, when president and vice president will be elected, 130 of the 257 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 24 of the 72 seats in the Senateand 43 Argentine representatives will be chosen for the Mercosur Parliament (Parlasur, legislative body of the bloc made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay).

For the elections this Sunday, 17,432 schools and other venues throughout the country have been set up, with a total of 108,107 polling stations.

Source: Elcomercio