Elections in Tierra del Fuego 2023: Together for Change recognized the defeat against Governor Gustavo Melella

The bunker in the San Martín de Río Grande Center exploded in applause tonight, after 9:10 p.m., when the first figures of the provisional count were known.

The radical K Gustavo Melella gave the blow in Tierra del Fuego and avoided the ballotage with the 54 percent of the vote on an opposition that competed divided. The Pro of Héctor “Tito” Stefani was second, and Together for Change ended up displaced to fourth place behind Republicans, the force of the evangelical pastor Andrea Almirón de Pauli, who had the support of Javier Milei.

In elections temporarily split from the national ones and distanced from the leadership of the government of Alberto Fernández and Cristina Kirchner, the provincial head of Concertación Forja will lead the executive branch of the province for the next four years with strong control over the Legislature that would allow him to carry out his plan to reform the local constitution.

In fifth place, meanwhile, was the Left Front and Workers – Unity, with barely 3 percent of the votes.

For his part, the percentage of blank votes was well above the national average according to the first results, with figures higher than 20 percent.

Pending provisional scrutiny, paul daniel whitecandidate for governor for Together for Change, conceded defeat and congratulated Governor Gustavo Melella for having achieved re-election.

“I congratulate @gustavomelella, the Fuegian people, the prosecutors and the militants of all the political parties that participated in this election,” Blanco wrote on his Twitter account.

Then the national senator added: “Now to continue looking ahead and helping, despite our differences, for the good of Tierra del Fuego”.

The candidate for governor of Tierra del Fuego for the PRO expressed the same line, Hector “Tito” Stefaniwho after 9:00 p.m. declared that Melella was re-elected with more than 50 percent of the votes cast.

”There is a good election for the governor, who wins in the first round. This is the reality and the will of the electorate. We abide by the decision of the people. We believe that there was no opposition in the province. We are convinced that our proposal is good and we firmly believe in what we have said in the campaign, as we also think that the path of the current government is not the right one”, affirmed the current national deputy in statements to Radio Province from the city of Ushuaia.

Even without the first trends being available, the ruling party is excited based on the percentage of participationwhich according to official data from the Electoral Justice exceeded 70 percent.

“Gustavo has many loose, independent voters. If we can get them to vote, they could help us win by beating up.”had said, in the afternoon, one of the main shipowners of Governor Melella, who will only be able to avoid the ballotage if he crosses the threshold of 50 percent of the votes in favor of Forja.

The scrutiny is shaping up slow, as is customary in this province with a scarce register but where voting is done with four different systems depending on the locality and estate. The judicial authorities reported that the first results of the provisional scrutiny would be known after 9:30 p.m., but after 8 p.m. Republicans denounced “counting problems”.

“There are prosecutors from the Melella party who seek to appeal or annul the votes of the estates for councilor. They’re looking to complicate the choice“, said to infobae one of the party authorities commanded by the evangelical pastor Andrea Almiron de Pauli with the support of Javier Milei. Earlier, from the PRO who leads Hector “Tito” Stefani They had filed claims against pro-government prosecutors who sought to displace the candidates who had gone to control the voting from the voting centers.

The same thing had been denounced by the candidate for governor of Juntos por el Cambio, Paul White, at the time of voting. But towards the afternoon the situation was regularized, after the Electoral Board clarified that all the candidates could supervise “as long as they did not cause disturbances, did not proselytize and respect the maximum of one prosecutor every seven tables.”

After an alleged change in the disposition of the Fuegian Electoral Court was revealed earlier today so that the candidates could serve as attorneys general, the judge of the organization, Mariel Zaniniclarified that there was no such modification and provided details in this regard.

“It was always agreed that the candidates could be attorneys general. The issue is that it had also been established that those who were highly recognized should not present themselves in a way that could lead to a proselytizing attitude, and that began to cause conflict between prosecutors,” Judge Zanini stressed, in dialogue with FM 96.3 Open Air.

In this sense, the magistrate expanded: “We communicated with the representatives of all the political groups and we let them know that the candidates could remain as long as they did not cause disturbances with the delegates, and let them do their job. They understood it and everything flowed normally”.

During the radio interview, Zanini confirmed that next Wednesday, from 10 in the morning, the Electoral Court of Tierra del Fuego will begin with the tasks to prepare the final scrutiny of the elections

Pending the results of the provisional scrutiny, Federico Frigeriocandidate for lieutenant governor for Juntos por el Cambio, published a message of thanks to all the prosecutors in the opposition space.

“Thank you prosecutors!”says the plate that Frigerio, running mate of the candidate for governor Pablo Daniel Blanco, published on his Instagram account.

Before the elections took place, the opposition coalition had warned about the importance of supervising during the development of the vote to guarantee the “defense of democracy”.

A few minutes after the end of the elections in Tierra del Fuego, the governor Gustavo Melella welcomed the fact that the vote went smoothly.

“Election day ended normally. I thank those who exercised their right by expressing themselves at the polls, and those who worked to protect our democracy,” Melella wrote on her Twitter account.

And along the same lines, he closed: “Congratulations to the Tierra del Fuego people for this great day of freedom and democracy!”

After the vote, the Electoral Court of Tierra del Fuego announced on social networks that the results of the provisional scrutiny will be known between 21 and 21.30 of this Sunday.

As the vote count progresses, they will be published and updated on heto the official page of the organization.

Sergio Romanodelegate of the Electoral Court of Tierra del Fuego, witnessed the closing of the elections at School No. 10 in Río Grande and affirmed that the voting took place without major inconveniences.

“The day proceeded as normal and started on time. There were no major inconveniences or agglutination of people”, commented Romano in dialogue with FM 96.3 Open Air.

Consulted by the concurrence of voters in the different parts of the province, Romano estimated that “around 75% of the register” cast their vote.

Minutes later, the official Twitter account of the Fuegian Electoral Court specified that 70% of the voters voted.

In Land of Firebeyond some complaints from opposition prosecutors, which were resolved with the intervention of the local Electoral Justice, there were no incidents throughout the day, which closed at 6:00 p.m. However, there were still voters lining up at schools in the main cities, Río Grande and Ushuaia. The authorities consider it “normal”.

“People here usually go out late to vote”they argued. The first results of the provisional scrutiny, they advanced, will be known from the twenty. The delay is due to the multiplicity of voting systems that make it more difficult to count in the Computer Center each electoral year.