2023-11-05 03:30:00
The surprise at the results of the first round of elections and the political movements that followed They overshadowed an aspect that should not be disregarded: the tranquility of voting day and the transparency and speed in the transmission of the results.which speaks very well of the strength of the electoral system and the civic consciousness of Argentines.
One of the most important theorists of modern liberal democracy, the Polish-American political scientist Adam Przeworski points out that one of the characteristics of the system is that dissatisfaction with its results is structural. After each vote, “almost 50% of the voters are on the losing side, so they are disappointed. Then, a portion of those who voted for the winning candidate become disappointed with his performance. So, a majority is always disappointed” she points out. But, at the same time, there is the hope that in future votes another candidate will not do so, in permanent oscillation between disenchantment and illusion.
In our country, as in others, a widespread discontent due to the poor results of some democratic administrations, that have produced economic stagnation, inflation, increased poverty, greater inequality and a feeling that the State does not provide quality services for the majority, while certain political and economic elites do improve their standard of living. But, as he also points out political scientist Andrés Malamud, so far this translates into “discontent in democracy” and not once morest it: “people go out to the streets, protest and vote” rewarding and, more often, punishing efforts. 40 years following the recovery of democracy, and despite having gone through threats and severe economic and political crises, Argentines have found a way to resolve them within the framework of the institutions and through the ballot box.
One of the greatest strengths is the electoral system, which beyond specific questions once once more demonstrated effectiveness, transparency and speed both in voting and in communicating the results. Conflicts during the casting of the vote were few and the difference between the provisional and final count was minimal, without affecting the result. A system of cross controls has been consolidated between the Executive, the Electoral Justice, the parties and the citizens in each step of the process that makes it very difficult to alter the results.
Therefore, the proliferation, especially on networks, of false information regarding an alleged “microfraud”, “discovered” in different jurisdictions, is worrying, arguing that several telegrams contain “0 votes” for a force. As a report made this week by the Research Center for Democratic Quality (Cicad) highlights, this is an anomaly that affected all political forces equally (1,669 telegrams from LLA, 1,652 from UP and 1,675 from JxC) and It has occurred in other elections without altering results, which are made not on the basis of those telegrams but on the official final minutes of the scrutiny, supervised by table presidents, prosecutors and validated by electoral justice authorities before being uploaded into the system. And they are the only basis for proclaiming winners and allocating legislative seats. Complaints in tight votes, such as in La Plata, were resolved by reviewing minutes and even reopening polls.
Without a doubt Our electoral system has weaknesses: a laxity of the legislation to create political parties, that allows the proliferation of forces of little representation. Also the financing of campaigns, which enabled serious acts of corruption. There are those who promote the single ballot system over the partisan ones, applied in several provinces with very good results, which prevents clientelistic maneuvers and the theft of ballots.
Beyond valid criticism, the commitment of all forces is necessary to avoid petty suspicions and defend the electoral system from misinformation, which is undoubtedly one of the pillars of consensus and the consolidation of our democracy in these four decades.
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