by A year after the conflict that broke out with the province and that It even escalated to the Supreme Court of Mendozathe department of Guaymallén defined in the last hours how the election of its next Vintage Queen. There will be modifications and a return to the usual system, although some nuances will continue. The blind election is over, now the candidates will present themselves on video and online voting will continue. but before must go for exam. And in keeping with Javier Milei’s chainsaw, there will no longer be district parties.
“Anachronistic, retrograde and discriminatory.” This is how the radical Marcelino Iglesias, then mayor of Guaymallén, had described the beauty contest that is crowned with the election of the Harvest Queen at the most important festival in Mendoza.
The situation, which at first glance could seem like a local conflict, escalated quickly. It all started when in 2021 the Guaymallén Deliberative Council prohibited the election of the departmental queen, through ordinance 9196. The decision garnered some support, but also numerous rejections.
Even the National Harvest Queens Commission (Corenave) and the Guaymallén Queens Commission (Coreguay) filed an unconstitutionality action in court. And from sectors of feminism they came out in defense of tradition, appealing to women’s freedom.
After more than a year of discussions, the Supreme Court Mendoza agreed with the queens and urged the municipality on the outskirts of Mendoza capital to enable choice. Local authorities, however, adapted in their own way, with a curious blind system.
Now, the young people who registered to be harvest representatives must take a exam. Those who obtain the highest scores will be preselected so that the residents of Guaymallén can then vote for their favorites through the website.
Furthermore, unlike what happened the previous year, the candidates for the crown will not offer just one phrase to be chosen, a situation that seemed like a blind date. For the new edition, they will record a video in which they can be seen by voters and present a feasible project that they intend to carry out.
Marcos Calvente, who under Iglesias assumed the Secretary of Public Works and Services, is the new mayor of Guaymallén. Weeks after his inauguration, the communal chief explained the news in the election. He said that austerity is “non-negotiable”, he called for “preserve cultural heritage” and, at the same time, asked to stay away from the idea of a “beauty contest.”
“The austerity is non-negotiable, but we can concentrate on the interest of neighbors and families, on preserving the cultural heritage of Guaymallén, associated with the festival and, at the same time, moving away from the beauty contest. In that sense, the selection method was changed for a more modern one that will contemplate the (virtual) vote of the Guamallinos,” Calvente explained.
In this way, he also announced that the election will have its own mini-chainsaw: the preliminary district contests are left out and everything is concentrated on the main party. According to the commune’s estimates, not holding the district festivals implies savings greater than 80 million pesos.
From that triumphant phrase to the change of name: the details of the changes for the queen of the Harvest in Guaymallén
“I consider I have many positive aspects of my personality and academics, life experience that have driven me to develop activities of empathy, courage. I want to be able to develop and promote my solidarity cultural management project.” Thanks to those words, Natalia Mercery36 years old, was elected queen of the Guaymallén Harvest last year.
Now, the faces and figures of the participants return to the scene, just like the traditional coronations.
“We want the queen to return, and we want the attributes to return“said Calvente, alluding to the conflict over the “objectification” of the candidates that led to the suspension of the contest, but by decision of the Supreme Court of Mendoza, Guaymallén continued organizing.
“The official name will be ‘Vendimial Representative’, since this is defined in municipal ordinances of different departments. But if some prefer to use the term ‘Queen’, we have no problem with that. We know that it is a more popular reference,” they indicated from the municipality, the site reports. Mendoza Post Office.
Already entering 2024, the candidates must take an exam, which will take place on January 8. Those who approve it will move on to a new selection stage, through online voting by neighbors as in the last harvest, which will take place between January 15 and 19.
And a month and a half later, between March 2 and 4, will be the Harvest Festival, from which the provincial monarch will emerge.
Covid, parallel competition and the intervention of the Court
Between the coronavirus pandemic and the ordinance of the local Deliberative Council, the contest was vacant in 2021. A year later, no queen was elected. However, the department was forced by a court ruling to present a representative.
They decided to carry out the sovereign election in 2020. The Guaymallén Queens Commission, carefully, put together a parallel contest.
Already in January 2023, with the countdown to a new edition of the festival, the Supreme Court of Mendoza ruled that the resolution of the Municipality of Guaymallén that prohibited the election and coronation of the Queen of the Harvest in that district was unconstitutional.
Then the long year of discussions about the election of the queen of the Harvest of Guaymallén, the most populated municipality of Greater Mendoza, seemed to end.
Now, after the time of direct confrontation, the municipality continues seeking to harmonize tradition with new claims.
