President of Argentina
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The President of Argentina (full title: President of the Argentine Nation, Spanish: Presidente de la Nación Argentina) is the head of state of Argentina. Under the national Constitution, the President is also the chief executive of the federal government and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.
Through Argentine history, the office of the Head of State has undergone many changes, both in its title as in its features and powers. The current President is Cristina Fernández, who was sworn in on December 10, 2007.
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[edit] Features of the office
[edit] Requirements
Article 89 of the Argentine Constitution establishes the requirements for becoming President. The President must be a natural-born citizen of the country, or have been born to Argentine citizens if born abroad. The President must also meet the same requirements as a Senator.
Before the constitutional reform of 1994, another requirement was that the President had to be a baptized Roman Catholic, but that is no longer the case.
[edit] Presidential elections
The current method for electing the President is by popular vote. The former method (established by the Constitution in 1853 and re-established by the amendment of 1957) was of election by means of an Electoral College. The amendment of 1949 established popular election for the first time, and the last amendment of 1994 re-established it.
[edit] Presidential powers
Among the most important powers of the President are managing the country's foreign relations, presenting proposed laws to Congress, appointing members of the Supreme Court and the issuance of presidential decrees.
Former faculties included appointing all of the federal judiciary (amended in 1994) and appointing Roman Catholic bishops (which was given up on the signing of a concordat with the Holy See in 1966). After the establishment of Buenos Aires as federal capital city in 1880, the President could appoint the Mayor of the city. This power was lost by the constitutional amendment of 1994, which established election of local officials by the citizens of Buenos Aires. The first mayoral election was in 1996.
[edit] Term duration
Under the 1994 constitutional amendment, the President serves for four years, with a possibility of reelection for one more term.
Under the constitution of 1853, the President served for six years, with no possibility of consecutive reelection. In 1949, reelection for an indefinite number of terms was allowed (and disabled in 1957). After the 1966 military coup, the rulers promulgated a law establishing terms of four years, terms which were never completed because of political instability.
There had been cases where a departing president shortened the duration of his or her term by some months, to provide for a more "serene" departure, letting the next elected president be inaugurated earlier. This happened in the transition from Raúl Alfonsín to Carlos Menem in 1989, and from Eduardo Duhalde to Néstor Kirchner in 2003.
[edit] Succession
The Constitution establishes in Article 88 that in case of death, resignation or destitution of the President, the office is exercised by the Vice-President for the rest of the term. In the case there is no Vice-President, the Congress decides on the succession.
The current succession mechanism is established by law of Congress, and establishes that the Provisional President of the Senate assumes as acting head of the executive branch, and in a few days the Congress assembles and elects a more permanent successor. It is also decided by Congress whether the elected President exercises the office for the rest of the term, or if early elections are called.
[edit] Presidential symbols and residence
The. most important presidential symbols are the presidential sash and the presidential cane. The sash symbolizes continuity, as the departing President takes it off and puts it on the incoming President. The sash is in the colours of the Argentine flag. The cane symbolizes presidential power, and is different for each president, usually manufactured by a prestigious goldsmith, although it is not uncommon for a President to be inaugurated with the cane of an illustrious former President.
The president has his or her offices at the Casa Rosada ("Pink House") and lives at the Residencia Presidencial de Olivos ("Olivos Presidential Residence"). The Casa Rosada is the effective seat of government, located at Balcarce 50 in Buenos Aires. The Quinta is in Olivos, province of Buenos Aires.
Some newer presidential symbols, which do not yet qualify as traditional, are the presidential planes and helicopter. The most famous presidential airplane, known as "Tango 01" (a simile of U.S. Air Force One), owes its name to the denomination of T (pronounced tango in the NATO alphabet) for Transport, which creates an interesting word-game for the Argentine classical Tango music. The presidential helicopter is the usual means of transport between the Quinta de Olivos and the Casa Rosada.
[edit] History of the Office of Head of State
[edit] Pre-autonomous government
The origins of Argentina as a nation can be traced to 1776, when it was separated by the Spanish King from the existing Viceroyalty of Peru, creating the new Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. The Head of State continued to be the King, but was represented locally by the Viceroy. These Viceroys were seldom natives of the country.
[edit] Early autonomous government
With the Revolution in Buenos Aires on May 25, 1810, the first autonomous government, known as the Primera Junta, was formed. It was later known as the Junta Grande when representatives from the provinces joined. These early attempts of self-government where succeeded by two triumvirates, and, although the first juntas had presidents, the King of Spain was still regarded as Head of State (as independence had not yet been declared), and the executive power was not still in the hands of a single person.
This power was vested in one man when the position of Director was created in the 1813 National Assembly. The different Directors became Heads of State after Independence was declared in 1816, but they were not yet truly a presidential system.
[edit] The Constitution of 1819
In 1819, Congress declared Independence and composed a Constitution. This established an executive figure, named Supreme Director, who was vested with presidential powers. This constitution gave the Supreme Director the power of appointing Governors of the provinces. Due to political circumstances, this constitution never came into force, and the central power was dissolved, leaving the country a federation of provinces.
[edit] The Constitution of 1826
A new constitution was drafted in 1826. This constitution was the first to create a President, although this office retained the powers described in the 1819 constitution. This constitution did come into force, resulting in the election of the first President, Bernardino Rivadavia. Because of the Argentina-Brazil War, Rivadavia resigned after a short time, and the office was dissolved shortly after.
[edit] The civil war
A civil war between unitarios (unitarians, i. e. Buenos Aires centralists) and federales (federalists) ensued in the following decades. In this time, there was no central authority, and the closest to that was the Chairman of Foreign Relations, typically the Governor of the Province of Buenos Aires. The last to bear this title was Juan Manuel de Rosas, who in the last years of his governorship was elected Supreme Chief of the Confederation, gaining effective rule of the rest of the country.
[edit] The Constitution of 1853
In 1852, Rosas was deposed, and a constitutional convention was summoned. This constitution, still in force, established a national federal government, with the office of the President. The term was fixed as six years, with no possibility of reelection. The first elected President under the constitution was Justo José de Urquiza. After a brief interruption in 1860, the succession of Presidents ran smoothly into the 20th century, until it was interrupted by several coups d'état, creating a series of elected presidents mixed with de facto ones.
[edit] Military presidents
In 1930, and again in 1943, 1955, 1963, 1966 and 1976, military coups deposed elected Presidents. In 1966 and 1976, federal government was undertaken by a military junta, where power was shared by the chiefs of the armed forces. In 1963, the President of the Senate ruled, but in the other cases, a military chief assumed the title of President.
It is debatable whether these military presidents can properly be called Presidents, as there are issues with the legitimacy of their governments. The position of the current Argentine government is that military Presidents Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri and Jorge Rafael Videla were explicitly not legitimate presidents. They, and their immediate successors were denied the right to a presidential pension after the conclusion of their terms. The status of earlier military presidents, however, remains more uncertain.
[edit] Statistics
- President elected to the most terms: Juan Perón, three terms, elected in 1945, 1951 and 1973.
- President who held office for most time: Julio Argentino Roca, for 12 years, in two terms (1880-1886 and 1898-1904).
- President who held office for most time continuously: Carlos Menem, for 10 years and 5 months, in two terms (1989-1999).
- First President: Bernardino Rivadavia, 1826.
- First President under the present Constitution: Justo José de Urquiza, 1854 to 1860.
- First President born an Argentine citizen, not a Spanish subject: Bartolomé Mitre, in 1821.
- First President born in the twentieth century: Pedro Eugenio Aramburu, in 1903.
- First de facto President: José Félix Uriburu, 1930.
- Last de facto President: Reynaldo Bignone, left in 1983.
- First female President: Isabel Perón (1974-1976).
- Presidents who were father and son: Luis and Roque Sáenz Peña.
- Father who was President and son who was Vice-President: Julio Argentino Roca and Julio Argentino Roca, Jr.
- Presidents who were brothers-in-law: Julio A. Roca and Miguel Juárez Celman
- Presidents who were husband and wife: Juan Perón and Isabel Perón (last period of Juan Perón, 1973-1974). Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
- First elected female President: Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
- Presidents who died in office: Manuel Quintana (1906), Roque Sáenz Peña (1914) and Juan Perón (1974).
- Presidents who were assassinated: Justo José de Urquiza (1870) and Pedro Eugenio Aramburu (1970), both after concluding their terms.
[edit] The office of Vice-President
In the constitution of 1853, the office of Vice-President was established for the purpose of providing for succession in an unfinished term. In the amendment of 1994, the Vice-President, as in other countries, was given the additional title of President of the Senate, making his role a more legislative than executive one, with the power to vote in the case of a tie in the assembly.
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[edit] See also
- List of Presidents of Argentina
- List of Vice-Presidents of Argentina
- History of Argentina
- Politics of Argentina
[edit] External links
- (Spanish) Official presidential website
