San Juan

The election in San Juan meant a bump for Together for Change. The national deputy Marcelo Orrego obtained 49.4% of the votes and he was elected governor by the “United for San Juan” group, which had three other candidates and accumulated 51.2% of the votes. Four years ago, Orrego had been defeated by more than 20 points by the current governor Sergio Uñac. In that year, the provincial map had been dominated by Peronism with the exception of one district: San Juan capital. Yesterday, From the capital, “United for San Juan” spread to another 10 departments, out of the 19 that make up the province.

The official San Juan Por Todos, obtained 44.3% of the votes, leading Rubén Uñac –brother of the current governor vetoed by the Supreme Court– and former governor José Luis Gioja, who won the internal election. In the inmate of San Juan Por Todos were the surnames that led the province in the last 20 years: three periods of Gioja and two of Sergio Uñac. The governor tried to go for his third term, but the Supreme Court denied it on June 1, so he appointed his brother, Senator Rubén Uñac. In the internal, Gioja was left with six of the nine departments that the ruling party obtained.

In addition to the surprise that Orrego gave, and for which the presidential candidate Horacio Rodríguez Larreta traveled with his best smile to the province of Cuyo, the election in San Juan offered other figures that are being projected towards the national election: the turnout was 73%, the blank vote 0.7% and Javier Milei’s candidates obtained only 3.8% of the votes if the three lists that had their photo on the ballot are added.

Despite the setback of the highest court, the ruling party was confident in the result obtained in the elections of May 14, when the governor had to be elected, but only the rest of the provincial positions were elected: deputy, councilors and mayors. The ruling party won victories in 15 of the 19 departments and 75 percent of the legislative positions. Something that will condition the Orrego government, who will have to negotiate any measure with the outgoing ruling party.

Where Orrego’s triumph was conceived

In the May 14 election, the first indication of an opposition victory was — as in 2019 — the victory in the capital. This time the administration was in the hands of Susana Laciar, who beat the official Emilio Baistrocchi. The neighboring departments of the capital: Rivadavia and Santa Lucía, and the southernmost department of the province, Sarmiento, were the other three municipalities won in May by Unión por San Juan. This Sunday, the victory was repeated in those four departments.

In the capital, Orrego obtained 59.6% of the votes for his candidacy and United for San Juan gathered 62.3%. In Santa Lucía the victory was more forceful with 66.1%, while in Rivadavia it was repeated with 56.8% and in Sarmiento, a department on the border with Mendoza, it obtained the greatest victory with 67.3%.

In addition, Orrego and the rest of the candidates referenced in Together for Change at the national level added new departments to achieve victory over the ruling party. They were two other neighboring departments of the capital: 9 de Julio (53.5%) and Rawson (48.2%). And they extended the victory to four others: Iglesia (52.8%) Caucete (52.8%) Valle Fértil (51.2%) Angaco (50.1%).

While, “San Juan Por Todos” was left with 9 of the provincial departments. Near the capital, they obtained victory in the department of San Martín (63.2%), Chimbas (58.3%) and Pocito (49.9%). Unlike what happened in the opposition, in the official group the internal one between Rubén Uñac and Gioja was significant, sharing the victory.

Olgada victories were shared in these three departments in San Martín (Uñac 45.9%) and Chimbas (Gioja 47.6%), but the former governor stayed with Pocito, the political cradle of the Uñacs, where the outgoing governor was mayor for two periods and before it was the father of the Uñacs, Joaquín Uñac.

The pro-government force also won the election in the departments of 25 de Mayo (50%), Albardón (51.1%), Jáchal (52.9%), Ullum (68.6%), Zonda (64.2%) , Calingasta (52.5%). Of those six departments, Gioja was victorious in 4, while in Calingasta the difference in favor of Uñac was 0.1%.