ARGENTINA: Congress Discusses Early General Elections

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Jul 3 2002 (IPS) - The Argentine Congress began to discuss Wednesday the possibility of a complete renovation of parliament at the same time early presidential elections are held on Mar 30, in order to respond to society’s criticism of the political class.

Some lawmakers are arguing in favour of passing a law that would put all elected posts – provincial governorships, seats in the legislature and municipal posts – up for grabs in March.

But most members of Congress do not accept that drastic proposal, which is designed by its sponsors to restore the badly deteriorated legitimacy of politicians and help them regain the public’s faith.

Other political leaders and potential candidates argue that elections should be held before Mar 30, the date announced Tuesday by President Eduardo Duhalde. They have not ruled out the possibility that the president, severely weakened by the ongoing crisis that erupted in December, might still announce an earlier date.

In the meantime, the near daily protests held since social unrest toppled President Fernando de la Rúa on Dec 20, halfway through his four-year term, have grown over the past few days. Two unemployed protesters were killed by gunshot wounds last week, and massive new demonstrations were held Wednesday.

Duhalde announced Tuesday that the presidential elections scheduled for September 2003 would be moved up six months. The new timetable is to include primary elections for the parties to designate their candidates in November, and the March election of a president, who would take office in May.

The governing Justicialista (Peronist) Party leader with the strongest possibilities of gaining his party’s nomination – Carlos Reutemann, the governor of the central province of Santa Fe – was caught off guard by Tuesday’s announcement.

He said that “within the next few days,” he would decide whether or not he was going to run for president.

Duhalde, who was appointed by Congress in January to finish out de la Rúa’s term, said the country needs “a president who is strengthened by the popular vote” in order to implement the reforms needed to overcome the crisis.

Half of the population of what used to be Latin America’s richest country in terms of per capita income has fallen into poverty, 25 percent of the workforce is unemployed and another 25 percent under-employed, and protests by middle-class savers whose deposits are frozen in the banks and by the jobless whose families are surviving thanks to soup kitchens have become routine.

Duhalde also said he would like to see all posts up for election along with the presidency. But he said that decision was up to Congress and the provinces.

Most lawmakers belonging to the ruling party and to the opposition Radical Civic Union do not want all elective posts to come up for election in March.

Interior Minister Jorge Matzkin said that would be “impossible, in practical and legal terms.”

The minister said holding early general elections would require either a constitutional amendment, which would take too long to push through, or “the collective resignation” of parliamentarians, governors and mayors, which would demand a “unanimous willingness” that does not presently exist.

The resignation en masse by all members of Congress was proposed Wednesday by a group of Peronist senators who are critical of decisions taken by the government.

“If we declared an economic emergency to allow public authorities to violate constitutional laws like the right to private property” – an allusion to the freeze on bank accounts in effect since December – “why not, by virtue of this emergency, declare that all posts have elapsed, and give the next government greater legitimacy?” asked Justicialista Senator Jorge Yoma.

One of the slogans of organisations of unemployed protesters and of a new movement of neighbourhood assemblies in Buenos Aires is “they should all go!” – in reference to the country’s politicians.

A full 98 percent of listeners who responded to a poll by Radio Mitre, in the capital, agreed Wednesday that all elective posts should be renewed in early elections in March.

But most of those surveyed by other opinion polls in the media said elections should be held before March.

Left-leaning opposition Deputy Elisa Carrió, one of the poll favourites for the presidency, said all posts should be put up for election, and warned that March was “an eternity away.”

Senator Rodolfo Terragno, a strong contender for the Radical Civic Union presidential nomination, agreed that March was a long way off. “You can’t admit that you are weak, and stay on for another 11 months,” Terragno said, referring to Duhalde.

The head of the president’s cabinet, Alfredo Atanasof, denied Wednesday that the president was weakened by the decision to hold early elections. “Duhalde will govern until the last minute of the last day he is in power,” said the official.

Presidential spokesman Eduardo Amadeo said Duhalde would design “a strategic accord” with the candidate who wins the Justicialista primaries in November, in order to guarantee governability during the transition to the March elections and the change of government in May.