Argentine opposition presents impeachment request against Alberto Fernández

The opposition Radical Civic Union (UCR) presented on Tuesday (Dec. 27) a draft resolution in Parliament to promote impeachment proceedings against the President of Argentina, Alberto Fernandez, according to information from legislative sources.

The impeachment request was presented after the head of state’s decision to pay with public bonds the resources derived from tax collection that, last week, the Supreme Court ordered the national government to return to the Buenos Aires city government.

When confirming the filing of this impeachment request, the president of the bloc of radical deputies, Mario Negri, commented that trying to pay Buenos Aires with public bonds the resources of the so-called fiscal co-participation “is a malicious maneuver to cover up the disobedience to the Supreme Court’s decision”.

The draft resolution presented by the radicals in the Chamber of Deputies proposes impeachment proceedings against Alberto Fernández “for poor performance and possible commission of crimes in the exercise of his duties, in accordance with the provisions” of the Argentine Constitution.

For impeachment to occur, the Chamber of Deputies must first approve a resolution by at least two-thirds of its members to promote the process and then constitute itself as the accuser of the head of state before the Senate, which is responsible for trying those accused by the Chamber of Deputies.

According to the Constitution, when the accused is the president of the country, the chief justice will preside over the Senate.

The head of state cannot be found guilty without a two-thirds majority of the members present.

In the event of impeachment in this manner, the ruler is replaced by the vice president, a role currently held by Cristina Kirchner.

UCR is one of the parties that make up the Together for Change opposition front, which also includes Republican Proposal (Pro), a political group to which former president Mauricio Macri (2015-2019) and the capital’s mayor, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, belong.

‘Together for Change’ alliance does not have two-thirds of the seats in either legislative chamber, making it difficult for the impeachment petition to succeed.

Meanwhile, the controversy continues its course in the judicial sphere, where on Tuesday, the capital’s government filed a criminal complaint against national executive branch officials who failed to comply with the injunction issued last Wednesday by the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court unanimously ordered the national government to return 2.95% of the federal co-payment funds to the Buenos Aires government – as opposed to the current 2.32% – which means that the city should receive 180 billion pesos in addition to the amount it already receives.

After an initial rejection of the decision, Alberto Fernández, who has the support of 14 provincial governors, announced on Monday (Dec. 26) that he would finally comply with the judicial resolution, making a series of Treasury bonds available to the city of Buenos Aires during the next 90 days.

However, for the mayor of the capital, Fernández’s attempt to pay with bonds is “cheating to continue not complying with the decision” since, in his opinion, the resources should be returned through direct transfers from the state-owned Banco de la Nación, and not through public bonds.

The conflict between the government and the city of Buenos Aires over the co-participation of federal funds comes on the eve of a year marked by presidential elections, in which Rodríguez Larreta is profiled as one of the pre-candidates of Together for Change.

This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error