Technical problems force the partial extension of the PASO vote in Buenos Aires

2023-08-13 23:06:59

MADRID, 13 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The voting of the primaries for the Presidency of Argentina, the PASO, has been extended under certain circumstances in the capital of the country, Buenos Aires, due to the technical problems that have affected the development of the elections all day.

The electoral judge María Servini has not formally extended the voting period but she has granted an additional period for the last to arrive at the polls after denouncing this afternoon numerous failures in the machines and their vulnerability to possible manipulations.

“The degree of improvisation with which both the company contracted for the provision and installation of the voting machines, as well as the Electoral Management Institute of the City of Buenos Aires itself, have been handled,” the judge had lamented in statements to C5N. .

“They turn on the machines, but they don’t print; in commune 5, the technicians don’t know how to turn off the machines and they don’t read the PIN,” he said, before assuring that they also respond to the insertion of external devices, such as a flash drive.

The National Electoral Chamber has also expressed its “concern about the situation” by making it difficult for voters to participate in the City.

Through a statement, the magistrates of the electoral court have indicated that “the malfunction of the voting machines of the local election should not interrupt the voting in the national election, remaining under the exclusive responsibility of the Electoral Management Institute and the contracted company, the consequences for citizens of the situation generated”.

However, from the Government of Buenos Aires, the authorities have assured that “the first concurrent elections in the City of Buenos Aires began this morning normally and are taking place without problems in the 1,097 establishments set up for this purpose”, and that only 87 machines with the new electronic voting system, less than 1 percent of the total, registered failures.