Argentina's presidential baton-maker says sucked into handover feud

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - A deepening feud between Argentine President-elect Mauricio Macri and the country's departing Peronist leader over the handover of power next week has claimed an unlikely victim: the presidential baton maker.

Conservative Macri wants to receive the presidential sash and baton in the Pink House presidential palace but President Cristina Fernandez is digging in her heels and insisting the full swearing-in ceremony take place in Congress, where her leftist Front for Victory party holds the most seats.

Juan Carlos Pallarols, who has crafted a gleaming presidential staff for each leader since the end of the military dictatorship in 1983, said he had come under pressure from government protocol officials to deliver the baton early.

"I want them to sort it out," Pallarols told news channel TN. "I'm a craftsman, I'm a silversmith. I am not a mediator."

Macri, whose narrow election win on Nov. 22 turned Argentine politics on its head after 12 years of populist rule, complains that Fernandez is obstructing access to public accounts and hampering a smooth transition ahead of the Dec. 10 handover.

On Wednesday, Macri said "it seems the idea is to fill the transition process with obstacles and create as many problems as possible for the new government."

Fernandez allies fire back that Macri's "Let's Change" alliance is making excessive requests.

A spokesman for the president could not be reached for comment.

(Reporting by Nicolas Misculin; Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Sandra Maler)