No one questioned last night the appointment of Cecilia Moreau as the new president of the Chamber of Deputies in replacement of Serge Massafuture Minister of Economy and become a strong man of the administration of Alberto Fernandez. Only a shadow threatened drowning the ceremony of assumptionwhich will be held today: the reluctance of Together for Change and other opposition blocs to accompany his appointment. A rare stain in the legislative history regarding the designation of the authorities of the House.
The opponents of Together for Change they agreed to be will abstain from voting. To them will be added the blocks on the left. It is more than likely that libertarians will not support Moreau’s appointment either. This does not imply that his assumption is in danger, since the vote in the chamber is by simple majority and by show of hands. The problem here is not one of numbers or number of votes, but of legitimacy: It is not the same to manage a collegiate body as complex as the Chamber of Deputies with the support of peers than without it.
Typically, the presidents of the lower house – the so-called “People’s Chamber” – are appointed with the majority support of pro-government and opposition members. Only once in recent history was this custom not followed: it was in December 1997, when the Peronist Alberto Pierri he intended to be elected for the tenth consecutive time at the head of the body. It was the second term of Carlos Menem and the Alliance had triumphed in the legislative elections; the opposition threatened to reject his candidacy, but eventually backed down and abstained. The only one who voted once morest was Cristina Kirchner.
Aware of what it means not to have the majority endorsement of peers, the head of the ruling bloc, German Martinez, spent the whole day using his phone to try deter still dubious opponents and leave Together for Change isolated in its abstention. He obtained the support of the United Provinces interblock, which leads the Rio Negro Luis Di Giacomo. More cautious, the Federal interbloc, which leads Alejandro “Topo” Rodriguez, promised to give an answer tomorrow; however, in his caucus several voices were in favor of supporting Moreau’s candidacy.
Beyond the different positions, the truth is that among the opponents there were mixed feelings of annoyance and uncertainty. During the weekend that passed, they did not receive any message from the ruling party, either formal or informal, regarding how Massa’s replacement as head of the lower house would be resolved. “A right-handed”they ranted. Only yesterday followingnoon, Martínez officially announced that Moreau was the chosen one. In addition to being deputy head of the block, Moreau knew how to be Massa’s right hand in the body, hence the impulse of the Tigrense to be the one to succeed him in office.
“Cecilia Moreau is going to be appointed president, there is no doubt regarding that: the legislative tradition indicates that the majority block or, failing that, the first minority, elects the president of the Chamber -asserted an important member of the opposition- . We are not going to hinder. But we are going to refrain: this is an anomalous situation, we are in the midst of a crisis generated by the ruling party itself and we whoWe want to give a clear signal that we have nothing to do with it.”
The decision was adopted following a meeting held remotely by the heads of the blocks that make up Together for Change: Mario Negri (UCR); Christian Ritondo (Pro); Juan Lopez (Civic Coalition); Rodrigo De Loredo (Radical Evolution) and Margarita Stolbizer (Federal Encounter).
In the same sense the deputies of the left will pronounce themselves. “We always abstained in the election of the political authorities of the Chamber. This does not mean a personal challenge, but rather responds to our tradition of not voting for the authorities of one of the three powers of the State”, explained the deputies. Nicolás Del Caño, Romina Del Plá, Myriam Bregman and Alejandro Vilca who, incidentally, criticized Massa’s appointment.
“The granting of full powers to Massa creating a new government was not coincidentally resolved between four walls by two or three leaders squeezed by the “market” and the agropower that played for a devaluation, which gives us one more reason to question Moreau ”, they insisted.
Massa plans to attend tomorrow’s session, the last before resigning from his seat to take over as Economy Minister. Then he will take over Juan Marino, a man from the piquetero movement and an official from the Buenos Aires government. Once these formalities are completed, Martínez will propose the name of Moreau to succeed Massa as president of the body. Voting will be by show of hands. If there are no unforeseen events, Moreau will become the first female president of the Chamber of Deputies.
“Usually these types of designations are defined in the highest spheres of the ruling party; it is nothing more and nothing less than the president of the Chamber of Deputies, fourth in the line of presidential succession. However, Massa’s sudden departure deserved a debate in the block, talking to all the teammates. For this reason, Cecilia’s application was not confirmed until the last moment,” the official sources explained.