listas sabanas

[victoria]

Does anyone know what 'listas sabanas' are. From a news story about Argentina - one of the things being asked by protestors to be dropped from the legislature.

"El petitorio entregado por Blumberg a las autoridades legislativas incluía, por ejemplo, la necesidad de eliminar las llamadas listas sábanas."

 

[LadyBlakeney]

Literally, a "sábana" is a "sheet", and when whe speak about a "sábana de papel" (sheet of paper), at least in Spain, we refer to those papersheets that come in a continous paper pad for printing machines (those perforated at the sides), specifically the continuous paper that is bigger in size than a folio or a DINA4 (but smaller than a DINA3. Perhaps this explanation is not very clear but it gives you an idea of the general concept.

In this context, I'm sure it means something more, some kind of public documents, lists or database for a certain purpose. I home someone from Argentina can explain it to us.

 

[Jupiter]

For what I know it's a very local term from Argentina. It refers to a political election system in which multiple candidates are elected from a single (and long, that's why sábana/sheet) list. The opposite is when one person votes only for one candidate for representative or senator. This issue is very controversial at the present in the midst of the discussion on the proposals for the political reforms in the country.

Me too I hope that someone from Argentina can give us some clarification... but we'll have to wait some time for them to wake up.

If you are looking a translation, does 'closed ballot papers' make sense?

 

[Vicki]

"Long ballot" is typically used in the US (though there may be some regional variations).

Vicki

 

[victoria]

Only just saw this, but thanks a lot - that seems a pretty good explanation to me.