The presidental line of succession de Argentina the order in which officials can assume the office of the President of Argentina in case of vacancy due to illness, death, resignation or removal (due to political trial by the Chamber of Deputies and subsequent indictment and sentencing by the Senate).

The line of succession is specified by the Constitution of Argentina, Article 88, as well as the Law of Presidential Acephaly N.º 25 716 (itself a modification of Law N.º 20 972).[1]

The line begins with the vice president, who shall finish the interrupted term. If the vice president were to be impeded as well, the temporary line of succession is composed by: the President pro-tempore of the Senate, followed by the President of the Chamber of Deputies, and finally the President of the Supreme Court of Justice, who shall exercise the office provisionally until the cause of incapacity has ceased, or a new president is elected by the Legislative Assembly.

Presidential line of succession
1. Vice president
2. President pro-tempore of the senate
3. President of the Chamber of Deputies
4. President of the Supreme Court

Constitutional dispositions and legislation

  • Article 88 of the National constitution, places the vice president at the start of the line of succession and allows Congress to legislate by law the cases upon which neither the president or vice president can take office.

Article 88.- In case of sickness, absence from the Capital, death, resignation or destitution of the President, the Executive Power shall be exercised by the vice president of the Nation. In case of death or incapacity of the president and vice president of the Nation, Congress shall determine which public official must exercise the presidency, until the cause of the incapacity has ceased or a new president is elect.

— Sección II. Del Poder Ejecutivo. Capítulo primero. De su naturaleza y duración. Constitución de la Nación Argentina (1994)
  • Article 153 of the National Electoral Code, for the case where elections have already been carried out, determines that in case of death or resignation of either of the components of the elect pair, article 88 of the Constitution shall be applied, that is if the president elect is unable to take office due to death or resignation, he shall be replaced by the vice president-elect. Article 154 goes on to determine that, in case of death of both, new elections shall be carried out.[2]

Article 153.- In case of death or resignal of either of the candidates of the formula that was proclaimed elect, what is declared in article 88 of the National Constitution shall be carried out. Article 154.- In case of death of two candidates of either of the two most voted formulas from the first round and before the second round is carried out, a new election shall be carried out.

— Título VII. Sistema Electoral Nacional. Capítulo I. De la elección de Presidente y Vicepresidente de la Nación. Código Nacional Electoral
  • Law 25 716 of Presidential Acephaly which was sanctioned on 28 November 2002, and came into validity on January 7 of 2003,[1] indicates in its' first Article that, if the absence of the presidency and vicepresidency is definitive, the president pro-tempore of the Senate must execercise the executive power until Congress decides the definitive succession in the Legislative Assembly. If the president pro-tempore of the Senate cannot take office, the duty shall fall on the president of the Chamber of Deputies, and if he too is unable, the president of the Supreme Court of Justice shall take office. According to article 6, this official shall add to his office, "In exercise of Executive Power".

History

During the Paraguayan War (1865–1870), then-president Bartolomé Mitre headed the Argentinean troops, delegating the office to his vice president Marcos Paz. Paz died on 2 January 1868 due to a cholera epidemic affecting Buenos Aires at that time, leaving the office vacant since president Mitre could not return immediately. As no law on the subject was in place, Ministers Guillermo Rawson (Interior), Juan Andrés Gelly y Obes (War), Marcelino Ugarte (Foreign Affairs), Lucas González (Taxation) and José Evaristo Uriburu (Justice) assumed the office transitorily.[3]

Due to this, Congress sanctioned law 252 of September 19 of 1868, thereby defining the order of succession: upon vacancy of the president and vice president, office will be assumed firstly, by the president pro-tempore of the Senate, if they were unable, by the president of the Chamber of Deputies, and missing both, the president of the Supreme Court of Justice, who shall invoke national elections within the following 30 days and hand over command to the president elect to finish the interrupted term.[4]

This law was superseded by lew 20 972 of July 11 of 1975, which maintained the order of succession, but replaced the call to national elections with a session of the Legislative Assembly (Deputies and Senate, with a quorum of two thirds) within 48 horas following the vacancy of the office, who shall choose the new president by absolute majority from within the present Senators, Deputies and Governors to finish the term.[5] This law was modified by law 25 716 of November 28 of 2002, introducing the possibility that the elect president and vice president take office if elections have taken place.[6]

Applications

The first use of the law happened on 29 March 1962. Then president Arturo Frondizi was deposed by the Armed Forces and imprisoned.[7][8] After the coup, the military commanders failed to agree on the next steps.[9] Supreme Court Judge Julio C. Oyhanarte, and Minister of Defense Rodolfo Martínez, took advantage of this deadlock, thinking of a legal path to maintain democracy and, with the office of the vice president also vacant after the resignation of Alejandro Gómez in November 1958,[10] convoked José María Guido, president pro-tempore of the Senate, to the Palace of Justice to take oath of law and avoid the coup d'etat.[11]

True application of the law took place between December 2001 and January 2002, a period known in Argentina as the "five president week".[12] On December 21, 2001, then president Fernando de la Rúa resigned amidst a deep economic crisis, violent riots, rough police violence and lack of support from his party, the Unión Cívica Radical, as well as the opposition, the Justicialist Party, to form a coalition government.[13] As the vicepresidency was also vacant, due to Carlos Chacho Álvarez's resignation in October 2000,[14] president pro-tempore of the Senate, Federico Ramón Puerta, assumed presidency temporarily and summoned the Legislative Assembly on December 23, when governor of San Luis Adolfo Rodríguez Saá was elected by 169 positive votes to 138 negatives, and elections were invoked for March 3, 2002.[15]

Rodríguez Saá announced default on external debt as well as the creation of a new currency, the Argentino, but on 30 de diciembre after a failed meeting with governors in Chapadmalal, he traveled to his birth province and resigned from office.[16] The next day Puerta also resigned from the office of president pro-tempore of the Senate,[17] due to which the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Eduardo Camaño, assumed the presidency temporarily, and again summoned the Legislative Assembly on January 1, 2002 to accept Rodríguez Saá's resignation and elect a new president. On that instance senator Eduardo Duhalde was elected by 262 positive votes, 21 against and 18 abstentions, until December 10, 2003. Duhalde announced the end of the peso-dollar pegging and the flexibilization of the corralito, raising the limit from 200 pesos to 1000 pesos a month.[18][19]

Current line of succession

No. Position Incumbent Image Party
1. Vice President Victoria Villarruel La Libertad Avanza
2. President pro-tempore of the Senate Claudia Ledesma Abdala de Zamora FCxS-Unión por la Patria
3. President of the Chamber of Deputies Cecilia Moreau FR-Unión por la Patria
4. President of the Supreme Court Horacio Rosatti Independent

References

  1. 1 2 "ACEFALIA PRESIDENCIAL Ley 25.716". InfoLEG. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  2. ↑ "CODIGO ELECTORAL NACIONAL". InfoLEG. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  3. ↑ "Quién reemplaza al Presidente y al vicepresidente en caso de ausencia". Diario Clarín. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  4. ↑ "Un período de facto". Diario La Nueva. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  5. ↑ "La ley de acefalía daría paso a un proceso muy complejo". Diario La Nación. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  6. ↑ "El Senado aprobó la modificación de la ley de acefalía". Diario La Nación. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  7. ↑ Rouquié 1982, p. 188.
  8. ↑ Luna 1975, p. 13.
  9. ↑ "Cuando José María Guido fue presidente después del derrocamiento de Arturo Frondizi el 29/3/1962". APP Noticias. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  10. ↑ "Alejandro Gómez: la conjura que no fue". Diario La Nación. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  11. ↑ Martin, Oyhanarte (12 March 2014). "Corte Suprema y Acefalía: El Derrocamiento de Frondizi y la Asunción de Guido (Supreme Court and Presidential Vacancy: The Ousting of Frondizi and the Swearing-in of Guido)". El Derecho No. 13.443, Año LII, Tomo 256, 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
  12. ↑ "La renuncia de De la Rúa y los cinco presidentes en once días". Diario Los Andes. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  13. ↑ "El día que Fernando de la Rúa renunció a la presidencia y huyó en helicóptero". Diario Quien. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  14. ↑ "El día que Chacho Álvarez renunció a la vicepresidencia". Infonews. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  15. ↑ "Asumió Rodríguez Saá y suspendió el pago de toda la deuda externa". Diario La Nación. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  16. ↑ "La caída de Rodríguez Saá, hace 16 años, o "¡No me digan que, encima de todo esto, nos van a coger!"". Infobae. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  17. ↑ "Puerta renunció a la Presidencia Provisional del Senado". Diario La Nación. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  18. ↑ "ASAMBLEA LEGISLATIVA". Infoleg. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  19. ↑ "El presidente peronista Duhalde anuncia un Gobierno de unidad nacional para Argentina". Diario El País. Retrieved 3 May 2020.

Works cited

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