In a completely unexpected turn, Luis Juez acknowledged on Wednesday afternoon his defeat in the fight for the governorship of Córdoba.
Although he had announced that he would wait for the final count of the votes, this Wednesday as soon as the final count began, the opponent told a radio: "It's over, that's it, I have no hope that I can reverse it."
The current national senator also said that next week he will recognize the victory of the Peronist, but warned that he will do so "when Justice does things properly."
The winner Martín Llaryora, when voting this Wednesday. Photo Marcelo Carroll.
His statement provoked complete surprise among his allies in the UCR and the PRO. In both camps, they said they did not know what the judge intended to do. The senator did not answer Clarín's call.
Of course: at the bottom, both the PRO and the radicals admitted that the result was impossible to turn around.
Judge had just fallen in Sunday's election by three points against Peronist Martin Llaryora, according to the provisional count. Llaryora is already the virtual governor-elect.
The Peronist, current mayor of the city of Córdoba, claimed the victory in the same early hours of Monday, but the candidate of Together for Change refused to recognize his defeat.
"I don't accept anything from the cheaters," he said, referring to the delays in loading the provisional count data.
And he added, pointing to the ruling party led by Governor Juan Schiaretti: "I don't recognize the bandits at all."
This Wednesday morning the final scrutiny began. And what the ruling party maintained happened: Llaryora began to increase the advantage over his rival, according to sources of Cordovan Peronism.
Urns held by the Justice of Córdoba. Photo La Voz.
The provisional count, which came to process 94.90% of the tables, showed that the ruling party Hacemos Unidos por Córdoba garnered 42.76% of the votes. The Judge's ballot, 39.76%.
Apart from the final count, Judge began to complicate the political context. Aurelio García Elorrio, who competed on Sunday for governor for Encuentro Vecinal Córdoba, said after the start of the final count: "The final difference (of Llaryora over Judge) is going to be more than three points."
In Peronism he maintains that the distance will border the 5 points. The final count will end next week.
Llaryora was hot and accuses Judge of having played dirty, of seeking to overshadow his triumph.
In their sector they denounce that it was an electoral strategy of Together for Change in the face of the election for mayor of Córdoba capital on July 23.
"They wanted to question our victory to try to benefit in the fight for the city," they say.
Llaryora is the current mayor of Córdoba. That election will have a central dispute: the candidate of the ruling party, Daniel Passerini, who still has a low level of knowledge, and the radical Rodrigo de Loredo, Judge's main political partner and who is very well positioned for the fight.
Prosecutors waiting for the entry for the final scrutiny in Córdoba. Photo La Voz
Between the early hours of Monday and Tuesday, Judge had begun an escalation against the ruling party. In addition to treating him as "cheaters" and "bandits," the judge accused them of distributing mattresses, blankets, subsidies, silver and drugs to win the election.
Llaryora replied: "Let him go to court and denounce him, if he said he knew drug traffickers, if he has defended drug traffickers because he is a criminal lawyer and said he knows them, I do not know them."
Close to the mayor, they insisted that Judge tried to do the "greatest possible damage" and that with "the drug thing he skidded. There he had to stop saying barbarities and, to preserve himself, recognize that he lost."
Legislature
According to the provisional scrutiny and the minutes of the prosecutors, the Cordovan Peronism and Together for Change could be left with similar benches in the provincial unicameral Legislature.
It is estimated that each space will elect 20 deputies for the blanket lists and 13 for the departments of the province. The remaining four legislators would be distributed among different forces, including Kirchnerism, who would elect a single legislator.
On Sunday, Kirchnerism came in sixth, with just 2.16% of the vote. He got less than the blank vote (4.91%).
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