Elections: 107 years old, wants to vote but does not appear in the register

"I am an Argentine citizen and I want to vote for my homeland, I just discovered that I am not in the register.
107 years and a half, and that's why they let me out. They are surely afraid that someone else will appropriately name me. But I am worried about the future of my country and I will not be able to give my opinion. It's ridiculous, "says Maria Gabriela Calderón of the Barca de Zimmermann, angry, or Tuntén, as her family and friends tell her in the living room of her house in Beccar.

This is the first time that he will not vote. He did it in the 2015 presidential elections, first and second round, and remember that when he was about to take a taxi back home, he had met a youth friend , 103 years old, just like her at the time. , with whom he remained talking for a moment on the sidewalk.

Dolores, the youngest of her daughters, told the polling chamber that she had been informed that she had to submit a note and a certificate of survival to request her re-enrollment in the registry. "For PASO, we did not arrive, but they said yes for October," he says. And he adds: "We were informed that from 2018, the age limit for debugging standards had increased from 100 to 105 years, which explains their initial exclusion." THE NATION was able to corroborate these data, which were registered in accordance with the electoral chamber in the agreed 28/2018, which have in five years raised what is called "the age limit", for the implementation up to date and inspection standards. According to the electoral law, there is no age limit for voting, although after 70 years it is no longer mandatory.

Tuntén was born February 22, 1912, the year of the promulgation of the law Sáenz Peña in the country, which establishes the universal vote, secret and mandatory only for men. She had to wait several years to exercise this right. But since 1951, when women went to the polls for the first time en mbade, they have never run out of elections.

For Tuntén, the years do not prevent it from staying in business. He gets up early, has a healthy breakfast and gets ready for his yoga clbad. Everyday. "I do not finish it because I can not do some exercises anymore, and I like to have lunch in my room, near the window, to enjoy the scenery, the trees and the birds," he says. He likes to write, read the newspaper and also has a notebook of poetry, many of which are written in French. Until last year, he had a cell phone, but since he does not listen well and that WhatsApp is not friendly, he decided to go back to the phone line and to letters, that he usually writes when he wants to say something special to a family member or give him advice.

At 18, she met her husband. He had never imagined having such a large family: 12 children, 58 grandchildren and 111 great-grandchildren. Jacinta, her great-granddaughter, was born almost a year and a half ago. "I remember everyone's names, but birth dates, I write them here," he says, pbading the pages of a gray cover notebook. Some months are almost up and, according to a rough calculation, he picks up the day on the phone saying "happy birthday" to a family member.

He is interested in politics, he says, from the moment he went to school. He is worried about corruption. And he does not like to be lied to. He has a prodigious memory and remembers his trip to Europe in 1928, "an Argentine peso was worth ten lire".

Two years ago, Tuntén said that he did not want to die without being able to talk to President Mauricio Macri. Her wish reached the ears of Casa Rosada and Macri called her home. What did they talk about? "I asked him how he was going to do to solve the problems of Argentina.He asked me how I did to raise as many children," he recalls.

When asked how he is doing to stay so good, he frowns. "I never worried about my age or the length of my life I pray every morning, love to be with my family, see my great-grandchildren grow up and share time with them It's the will of God, "says the woman who lost five of her children. The last to die was her eldest daughter, 81 years old. "My husband left in 1976. 42 years ago, it scares me to think about it, the speed with which time pbades, everything flows," she recalls. Suddenly, Tuntén looks up. Look at the LA NACION photographer, between surprised and obscured. "He takes pictures of me as if it were Mount Everest, but what if I'm not the only one to be so old."

He likes routines. They order their day. So after the yoga clbad, lunch near the window and a little reading, Tuntén takes a nap, religiously. Bless the table every night. "A helping hand for Macri to reduce inflation, another for a better future and another for the opposition to lose strength," he said. Agustin, the great-grandson proud to have awarded him the title of great-great-grandmother, says: "Tuntén, when you're done with all that, the milanesa are already cold!"

It is tea time and the five generations of the family, with at least the representation of one of its members, are around the table. Everyone tells him not to worry, that today he will not be able to vote, but that he is ready for October. "I would like the next elections to be organized in such a way that someone is going to visit very old people and confirm whether they are alive or not."

A growing population in the world

WHO highlights the rise of the segment of adults over 100 years

Maria Gabriela Calderón of Barca de Zimmermann is 107 years old. But it is not the only one in the country. According to the last census, in Argentina in 2010, 3487 people were over 100 years old. In 2001, to establish a comparison of growth, they numbered 1855 people. The majority of them were previously women. Population aging is a global phenomenon: the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that half of boys born since 2010 would blow at least 100 times in the 21st century.

"Overall, the fastest growing segment of the population is the oldest, the proportion of centenarians is the fastest growing population, followed by the 80-99 age group," a recent report said. Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). "Over time, by eliminating the major epidemics of infectious diseases, the number of elderly people has begun to increase.It is expected that in the twenty-first century, the population increase of more than 85 years creates serious economic crises, as well as medical and ethical resources in developed countries such as developing ones, "says the report.

The Argentinian experts also agree that in the coming years they should concentrate on studying this group because very little is known about it.

Spain has for some years been conducting research on the increase of this group, which has increased since 1990 at a rate of 10% per year. Over the last ten years, the absolute number of people aged 90 and over has doubled in this country. Spain is the second longevity country in Europe, behind Switzerland. It has 400,000 people over 90 years old.

Enrique Amadasi, doctor of sociology and coordinator of the chapter on the elderly of the social debt barometer of the Catholic University of Argentina (UCA), concludes: "Everyone is not 90 years old Much less at age 100. Without a Darwinist reading, who reaches this age is someone who has been able to take care of his life better than others.This concerns both the economic and the economic aspects. access to resources as well as aspects of personality and social and family context. "