By IANS
Buenos Aires : Some 1,000 prisoners in various jails in Argentina have cast their votes in the national elections for the first time in the country’s history after parliament revoked a 2003 legislation that disabled convicts and under-trials from voting.
The nation Sunday went to the polls to choose a new president and a vice-president and governors in eight provinces. Along with them, half of the total members of the lower house of the Congress and one-third of the Senate also went to the hustings.
Some 860 jail inmates in 11 provinces cast their votes in Sunday’s elections. The largest number in-prison polling booths were set up at the capital’s Devoto prison, and the Ezeiza and Marcos Paz prisons in Buenos Aires province, Spanish news agency EFE reported Monday.
In Devoto, voting was suspended for some time because not enough ballot boxes had been set up to contain all ballots of the inmates who showed up.
The ballots cast by the prisoners were separated by the provinces where the inmates lived prior to going to prison, thus allowing their votes to count in the provinces where they hold official residence.
“A few days ago we did a simulation to see how things went, and to be forewarned and prepared for how the voting would occur,” said Leandro Gomez, 20, an inmate at the Ezeiza prison.
Gomez, who is awaiting trial for robbery, said, “Voting is important because it is an experience for tomorrow and we’re going to see if whoever wins does something to make the future better.”
The young inmate is completing his primary school education behind bars.
During electioneering, social workers educated the prisoners about the candidates in fray and their political stand so that the prisoners could vote according to their own choice. They were allowed to view campaigning on television and listen to the candidates over the radio.
Argentine First Lady Cristina Fernandez Sunday claimed victory in the presidential elections on the basis of both exit polls and initial results.