Argentina: Primary Elections and Future Presidential Candidates  · Global Voices
Laura Schneider

On August 14, 2011, primary elections [es] were held in Argentina for the first time. This new way of voting allows the population to choose possible candidates for the positions of President, Member of Parliament and Senator: if candidates gain 400,000 votes (1.5% of the electoral roll), they may run for their respective post in the definitive elections in October 2011.
The official website 2011 Elections [es] explains the methodology which will be applied in Argentina:
On August 14th we will choose between the pre-candidates standing for each political party and alliance, to decide who will be the candidates in the National Elections for the positions of President and Vice-President, National Senators and Members of Parliament.
On October 23rd we will elect our representatives for various national elective posts from those candidates chosen in the Primary Elections.
Following a long electoral campaign, the current president, Cristina Fernández [es] has achieved the highest number of votes and is thus able to run for the presidential elections with a high chance of winning. However, Deborah Mend (@debbiemend) clarifies via Twitter that winning the highest number of votes does not signify winning elections:
No entiendo por que los medios ponen ‘Gano Cristina’ si fueron elecciones primarias y era la única candidata del FpV!! #primarias2011
Nicolas Spolli (@nicolasspolli30), an Argentinian football player who is currently playing for Catania, expresses his happiness at the result on his Twitter account:
Que hermosa paliza le dimos a todos Cristinita querida!  Que feliz me pone la eleccion que hiciste! En 2 meses algunos van a  tirar la toalla?
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. Photo: Laura Schneider
There was a high voter turnout throughout the country and the process took place with absolute calm, as Liliana T (@lili_Argentina) testifies:
#asivote Voté en Almagro. Llegué y voté al toque. No falto boletas! Todo normal!. Acompañé a pareja a votar a Ciudadela. Todo impecable!
At 8pm Argentinean time, the current President and presidential candidate for the party Front for Victory [es] for the 2011 elections, published her first comment of the day on Twitter ( @CFKArgentina):
Un video de esta mañana, votando en Río Gallegos y charlando con el periodismo youtube.com/user/CFKArgent…
The other candidates for the presidential race are: Ricardo Alfonsín [es], Eduardo Duhalde [es], Hermes Binner [es] among others.
Since the close of voting, numbers of votes for the current president have climbed, and with 95.5% of polling stations’ votes counted, the results are the following according to the news site Infobae (@Infobae), at the time of writing this post:
#e2011: 95,5% mesas escrutadas, @CFKArgentina 50,07% – @RICALFONSIN 12,19% – @eduardoaduhalde 12,17% – @HermesBinner 10,29% | #Primarias
This large majority as well as the virtual draw between the second and third candidates provoked a wave of reactions both in favour of and against the results. One of the most popular hashtags was ‘AVANTI MOROCHA’ referring to Cristina Fernandez and David (@eltwdedavid), who according to his Twitter profile considers himself to be neither a Kirchner nor a Fernandez supporter, comments:
Somos la mitad mas uno, somos el pueblo, el carnaval! AVANTI MOROCHA!
On the other hand, Guido Escot (@Dementinsane), via the hashtag #chauCFK poses the question:
Todo el que dijo #chauCFK donde están? diganme ni unidos toda la oposición logran un balotaje…. #yovotocfk
And Dina Rezinovsky (@dinarezi) reflects on the results:
Luego  d pensar toda la noche (?) concluyo q en las primarias se juntaron los  “estómagos vacíos” y el “aparato de dar plata a vagos” #E2011
Flag of the Radical Civic Union party in the campaign – photo: Laura Schneider
Starting Monday, August 15, the candidates will begin their campaigns, and on October 23 the new President who will govern Argentina for the next 4 years will be elected. Meanwhile, we can only wait, as Fernando Kohutiak (@fkohutiak) writes:
Mis más sinceras felicitaciones a todos los partidos que lograron validar sus candidatos. Ahora empieza otra historia. #E2011 #Argentina