Julio Alak and Julio Garro.AP / EFE
The city of La Plata, provincial capital of Buenos Aires, was the scene of one of the worst electoral disputes in Argentina’s democratic history. With a difference of just 606 votes, the city will change hands starting December 10th. Peronist Julio Alak will become the city’s new mayor after defeating Julio Garro of Together for Change (JxC), who was seeking re-election in the October 22 election.
The election judge made the final count official at midnight on Friday. The Peronist alliance Unión por la Patria received 166,479 votes, compared to 165,873 for Together for Change. The court ruling came after more than 10 days of tension that kept residents of La Plata, capital of Argentina’s most populous province, on tenterhooks. The two candidates declared themselves winners and exchanged numerous accusations. At this point, Garro does not accept defeat and is considering whether to appeal to the Electoral Chamber to review the decision.
The final result was signed by the judicial authorities after the opening of 79 ballot boxes surveyed by JxC. Irregularities were found in 62% of them and the difference between the candidates narrowed by 300 votes, but judges Roberto Lemos Arias, Sergio Torres and Alejo Ramos Padilla ruled that the results were not enough to reverse the final count. Two of the reopened polling stations sparked the biggest controversy: there were the protocols signed by the polling station management and the party prosecutors, but not the ballot papers. Garro maintained this anomaly and demanded a recount of every single vote in the city. “It makes us wonder what could happen in the more than 1,600 ballot boxes that represent the entire city,” her team confirmed.
The Justice Department rejected Garro’s request on the grounds that it was not filed within the set deadline for filing a claim, and also flatly dismissed questions about alleged fraud that had gone viral on social networks. “For more than 30 years, the National Electoral Chamber has built up a case law according to which it interprets that the ballot box is valid if the protocol is present, even if the ballot papers are missing,” the judges emphasized in their ruling.
Before rejecting the request to open more polling stations, the judges issued a warning: “The electoral process not only determines who the winner is, but also gives legitimacy to the ruler.” It is important that everyone involved shows trust in the process to give citizens security.”
The words of the judicial authorities can be understood as a message to JxC to accept the result, but also to those who are raising suspicions of fraud in the run-up to the second presidential round between the Peronist Sergio Massa and the ultra Javier Milei.
Fifth term
Julio Alak is an old acquaintance for the people of La Plata. After a 16-year break, his fifth term as mayor of the city, which has a population of almost 200,000, begins on December 10th. Between 1991 and 2007 he headed the capital Buenos Aires.
The re-elected governor of Buenos Aires province, Axel Kicillof, was one of the first to congratulate Alak before the court confirmed his victory. The good election of Kicillof allowed us not only to retake the provincial capital, but also to have a one-vote majority in the Buenos Aires Senate, crucial for the appointment of judges, prosecutors and civil servants.