Facing defeat in key district, Argentina's Macri suspends vote count [View all]

[sandensea]

Argentine President Mauricio Macri is coming under fire after the vote count for the country's largest district, Buenos Aires Province, was drastically slowed and later suspended once results showed that his leading opponent, former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, was headed for a narrow victory in Sunday's senate primaries.

The vote count, conducted by the Argentine Postal Service, proceeded normally until 2 a.m., when 80% of the assigned tabulators were ordered to stop working; the order was reportedly given by President Macri himself.

"They froze the still partial result for four or five hours for show, so they could claim victory on television when they actually lost in 14 Argentine provinces (out of 23). They hijacked the votes of 300,000 Buenos Aires residents," former House Speaker Leopoldo Moreau, an ally of Mrs. Kirchner, said.

Over 1,500 precincts remain to be counted in Buenos Aires Province - two-thirds of these in areas where Kirchner's center-left Citizen's Unity was ahead by double digits. Citizen's Unity had received 34.11% when the count was stopped this morning, with Macri's right-wing Let's Change coalition (led by his Education Minister, Esteban Bullrich) at 34.19%.

Sunday's elections were primaries ahead of the final round in October. Turnout was high at 74%.

As the tops of their respective tickets, Kirchner and Bullrich are all but guaranteed a senate seat themselves, given that in Argentina the runner-up in each province receives one of three seats for that province.

A victory in Buenos Aires Province, home to 17 million out of Argentina's 44 million people, would boost Kirchner's chances of returning as president in 2019, however, and be seen as a rebuke of Macri's right-wing policies, which have led to a 7-fold hike in utility rates and a decline in real wages.

Buenos Aires Province, especially the largely working class Greater Buenos Aires area, has been particularly affected.

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So many votes; so little to do. Argentine tabulators were ordered to stop counting around 2 a.m. once results showed the ruling party would be overtaken.