The tradition of electing the
national vintage queen
is still valid in Mendoza and renews
its voting method
to avoid fraud.
The wine tourism celebration starts the last week of February and ends on March 3.
It is, along with Easter, the date that attracts the most visitors to the so-called
"land of sun and good wine"
.
The election of the Vendimia queen is on
Saturday, March 2
, as the closing of the show Coronados de historia y futur, at the Greek theater in General San Martín park.
That same night, the queen and vicereine of the harvest are chosen, considered ambassadors of tourism and production.
There are 18 participants who represent the municipalities of Mendoza and who were
chosen in departmental festivals
.
In the 2024 edition, the Ministry of Culture has imposed a change to the voting method, to
eradicate suspicions of fraud that occurred last year
.
Until 2016, the voters of the vintage queen were mayors, national and provincial officials and special guests, such as ambassadors, consuls and journalists.
The public asked for
a more democratic election
and since 2017, a random voting system was established, in which
a DNI termination number
was chosen .
The party announcer informed the public of the number that had been drawn and those who were at the party,
in order of arrival at the voting booth,
could cast their vote.
In total, 300 votes were needed.
In 2023, a rumor began to spread on social media that the municipality that won the vintage had brought
different people to the Frank Romero Day Greek Theater with different ID numbers
so that at the time of the vote they could have a vote difference.
The formal complaint reached the Culture authorities with a note signed by relatives, former queens and officials of
the candidates who had placed second and third
.
The suspicion could never be proven
, but it generated so much noise that there was a change in the election system this year.
The Undersecretary of Culture, Diego Gareca, explained that in the election of the national queen and vicereine of the 2024 vintage there will be 300 votes distributed among the audience attending the Greek theater.
The amphitheater, during the 2023 national harvest festival. Photo Orlando Pelichotti
The mayors, the commissions of queens and vicereines and the accredited media will also vote.
Tourists are not required to vote and minors will give their vote to an adult.
The drawing will be done before the show begins
and crowding at the entrance to vote will be avoided.
Gareca said that this new voting system has the support of the commissions of former queens Corenave and Covinave.
The main changes are that voting will no longer be done for the termination of the DNI but rather through
the seat number on the tickets
.
The seating numbers assigned by sector
will be drawn before the party begins
.
Spectators who are drawn must wait at their location and assistants will arrive at that location with a ballot box.
In the same way as in the last gubernatorial election,
the modality will be with a single ballot
where the 18 candidates will be in equal conditions.
Voters must place a cross on the candidate of their preference and sign a form with their ID and seat number.
The election of the national harvest queen, last year.
Photo Ignacio Blanco / Archive
The 18 mayors of Mendoza and the director of the central event of the party, Pablo Perri, will vote.
The Commission of Queens of Fulfilled Mandate (Corenave) will have 15 votes, and the Commission of Vicereines (Covinave) will have another 15 votes.
15 votes will also be drawn among the media accredited in Greek theater.
The only condition to vote is
to be over 18 years old
.
If there is a minor, the adult accompanying him or her will be allowed to vote in his or her place.
Through screens on the stage, the draw and the chosen places that will be able to vote will be communicated.
If a drawn spectator does not want to cast a vote,
he is not obliged to do so
.
The current queens
Not even the change of era regarding beauty contests could confront
the tradition of the national harvest queen in Mendoza
.
After a year of conflict that was finally settled by the Supreme Court of Mendoza, in March 2023 the representative of the municipality of La Paz, Ana Laura Verde, was elected.
Ana Laura (23) studies oenology, her grandparents were vintners and she
produces her own homemade wine
.
Her enthusiasm for being her queen led her to visit her neighbors door to door to convince them that she was going to be the best representative of her.
In 2022, the Vendimia queens went to court to defend the contest.
And Justice ended up agreeing with them: the Supreme Court of Mendoza ruled that the resolution of the Municipality of Guaymallén that
prohibited the election and coronation of the
harvest queen in that district was unconstitutional.
Mendoza spent more than a year discussing the future of the election of the queen of Guaymallén, the most populated municipality in Greater Mendoza.
The resistance of the queens with their mandate fulfilled, as the former sovereigns like to call themselves,
generated empathy even in some sectors of feminism
for a reason: "The freedom to decide as a woman if they want to participate, and not eliminate the contest, by decision of a mayor."
The Argentine wine capital was left almost alone in its position to continue with the election of queens.
The neighboring province of San Juan
eliminated the contest at the 2023 Fiesta del Sol
.
Mendoza. Correspondent
ACE