Electoral participation from Argentine citizens residing abroad hit record numbers in last Sunday's election. At embassies and consulates abroad, Argentines showed their commitment to the democratic process, creating long lines as they patiently waited to cast their ballots
The first diplomatic building to see voters cast ballots was the Argentine Embassy in New Zealand, located in the capital of Wellington. The last registered voters from overseas were registered at theConsulate General of Argentina in Los Angeles, United States.
A total of 389,479 Argentines living abroad were registered to vote in the general elections, of which 10,923 individuals were registered to vote by mail.
In cities such as Miami, Barcelona, Madrid, London, and Santiago de Chile, turnout not only surpassed expectations, but also the electoral system: low staffing and table numbers at voting centres abroad led to lines forming outside embassies and consulates. In some cases, voters had to wait lines for over two hours before casting ballots.
Overseas voters in total accounted for 1.15 percent of the electorate, made up of 33,841,837 voters.
The Argentine diaspora, present in all fve continents, is greater than the total registered voters in the provinces of Catamarca (319,290), La Rioja (288,558), La Pampa (287,141), Santa Cruz (252,428) and Tierra del Fuego (137,875). Overseas voters almost matched that of the Province of San Luis (389,831).
The continent with the largest amount of Argentine citizens is the Americas, with 219,433 citizens registered to vote from abroad. Europe followed with 144,754 voters, Asia with 17,966 voters, Oceania with 6,239 and Africa with 1,087.
According to official data, Spain and the United States are the two countries with the largest number of Argentine voters registered. In the European nation there is a total of 93,546, while in the North American nation 92,141 Argentines are registered to vote.
– TIMES/NA
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