Santa Fe was until yesterday the only province in the country where young people aged 16 and 17 could not vote for their representatives for the local categories of governor, deputies, senators, mayors, communal presidents and councilors. The last province to adapt to national regulations was Corrientes, which adapted its legislation in September 2022.
However, the Electoral Tribunal of the province issued a historic resolution on Tuesday, which enables optional suffrage. It should be remembered that the decision was made based on a request submitted by the Equality space, the deputies Rubén Giustiniani and Agustina Donnet. They requested that the authorities take the necessary measures to “cease the discrimination to which voters aged 16 and 17 are subjected.”
Also read: The Electoral Tribunal would enable the youth vote in Santa Fe
“The rules to be interpreted and applied to incorporate the so-called “youth vote” come from treaties and superior constitutional rules that regulate human rights; do not compromise the design of local government; they refer you specifically to matter; they are not standards of recommendation; and are more than rooted in secular struggles for the extension of suffrage (that is to say, they are born from the republican form of government and try to reinforce the principle of popular sovereignty), from all of which it results that this is a case that can be decided by this court, that does not move or violate the local constitutional system (especially nothing that modifies the organic part of the Constitution)nor does it necessarily demand a legislative reform, as they are rights recognized by higher-ranking norms”, reads a section of the recitals that appear in the document signed by the President of the Court -and of the Supreme Court- Dr. Daniel Erbetta, the members Armando Luis Drago and Alfredo Ivaldi Artacho and the electoral secretary of the province Pablo Ayala.
“A law that ensures a greater degree of legitimacy”
The provincial government repeatedly presented projects before the Legislature to advance the sanction of a Youth Vote Law. In that occasion, from the Gray House the authorization granted by the Electoral Tribunal was celebrated and valued, although they insisted on the “need for a law that ensures a greater degree of legitimacy.”
It is a right that must guarantee generational participation, essential to work collectively and in a coordinated manner in order to build proposals that contain the demands of all, that allow us to grow and project our lives in the province of Santa Fe. pic.twitter.com/7jZgpFLxnm
— Mili Monserrat ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@milimonseok) May 17, 2023
Milagros Monserrat, coordinator of ATR Juventudes, pondered that “in these elections the YOUTH VOTE will stop being a wish and will be a reality, After 10 years, the 16 and 17 year olds from Santa Fe will be able to vote“.
“For this new right, we work and organize ourselves with secondary student centers, a demand that was echoed in the project promoted by our Governor @omarperotti for the first time in August 2021. whose treatment never happened in ordinary or extraordinary sessions. So it was presented again on Friday of last week and it is still an outstanding debt of the Legislature of our province with the youth of Santa Fe,” added the official.
“A constitutional reform is not necessary”
In this regard, he maintained that “the expansion of the electoral base and youth participation are essential for strengthening democracy. For this reason we must have a law debated and sanctioned by both legislative chambers, an institutional path that ensures a greater degree of legitimacy and certainties not only for this year’s electoral process but for all future ones. As we stated from the beginning: a constitutional reform is not necessary. It is a pity that the Santa Fe legislators lose the opportunity to be protagonists of this extension of rights.”
“Finally, We are concerned that the resolution of the electoral tribunal is given with the process already open, and we want to highlight what our Governor always raised: the young vote should not be an electoralist proposal that can be taken advantage of by partisansis a right that must guarantee generational participation, essential to work collectively and in a coordinated manner in order to build proposals that contain the demands of all, that allow us to grow and project our lives in the province of Santa Fe”, concluded Monserrat.
