Balloon tests for indefinite re-election of President Cristina Fernandez
The possibility of a constitutional amendment to allow Argentine President Cristina Fernandez a third consecutive mandate is being seriously considered and publicly hailed and tested by her most ultra-orthodox followers although no projects have been presented to Congress.
“Constitutional reforms have to do with a question of political determination, a people that acknowledges a natural leadership, and a natural leadership consists of a direct bond between the people and the leader, with no middle persons. We see Cristina with that direct bond, no need of middle persons”, said lawmaker Diana Conti, who happens to be chairman of the Constitutional Committee in the Lower House of the Argentine congress.
Lawmaker Conti became famous for her phrase a year ago “Cristina for life” and the fact a few days later she formally proposed to debate constitutional reform. On that occasion Cristina Fernandez on the opening of the last legislature of her first mandate rejected the initiative before the full house.
“Marcelo Fuentes who is chairman of the Senate Constitutional Affairs committee and me are well known ‘kirchnerites’. If any project on the issue had been presented, we would obviously be the first to know about it”, said Ms Conti in a Sunday interview with Tiempo Argentino, a newspaper fully financed by the Argentine government.
“I repeat in none of the two chambers there is a project to amend the constitution” insisted Conti who nevertheless said this not impeded her or her colleagues from promoting the idea.
However another kirchnerite lawmaker Jose Maria Diaz Bancalari admitted that there are many people working on a constitutional amendment that would open the way for the indefinite presidential re-election, “but first we need to know what Cristina Fernandez thinks about it”.
“There are quite a few things to change in the constitution, but that does not mean we are all the time with a ballot in our heads, and probably it is not the correct time, but reform has been in the air since the 1994 constitution was approved”, said Diaz Bancalari.
He added that very recently Eugenio Zaffaroni, a member of Argentina’s Supreme Court suggested that the country should advance towards a parliamentary system, “and nobody was horrified about the idea”.
Last week during a political rally in Mar del Plata, Argentina’s main seaside resort which is packed in summer, several political leaders proposed the ‘indefinite re-election’ amendment to ensure President Cristina Fernandez can continue her ‘undisputed’ leadership.
The meeting was organized by Vice-president Amado Boudou who said the meeting was entirely of militants so he “would not advance on the issue”.
At the meeting Boudou was quoted stating that “constitutional issues must be addressed now and not in three years time”. However hours later he said “it was not time for electoral engineering but what is unequivocal is that Argentina has found a leader, which is far more than a ruler or a government official”
Finally lawmaker Conti said that “evidently the constitution reform is an issue that must be in the agenda: whether it is the parliamentary system, redefining presidentialism, defending the current national and popular development inclusive model which should be incorporated”.
She added, it’s not only re-re-election of the president: “we also have for example the issue of international tribunals such as the World Bank’s investments’ court and if Argentina should admit their jurisdiction and abide by its rulings”.
In Latin America only three countries admit presidents to be elected as such once in their life time: Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Paraguay.
Another group allows re-election but not immediately: Peru, Uruguay, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Panama and Nicaragua, although in this last case it was violated by Daniel Ortega who this month took office for a second consecutive mandate based on a court ruling by judges named by his government.
A third group tolerates one immediate re-election: Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Dominican Republic and Argentina. Only one country has indefinite re-election and that is the Venezuela of Hugo Chavez.
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at different levels....
How fitting a fate for such a laughable nation
I have no problem with candidates being elected as many times as the electorate chose. (We have that system in the UK) However, if you apply it to a regime that seeks to stifle freedom of the press, declares protests against the government unlawful, steals anything of value and is rife with corruption, then even the people of Argentina will find the idea unpalatable. When a minority of the voting public put CFKC in power, she should be careful not to overplay her hand and stop taking direction from Chavez.
you speak as though this personality cult was not her doing or intention.
she has become just another third world dictator hiding behind a painfully corrupt and censored political system and press to give her the barest sense of legitimacy.
this is what happens when you build such an embarrasingly terrible political system on top of nothing but deluded nationalism and a grossly inflated sense of victimhood.
argentina has been a failed state for most of it's history now, nothing short of a serious revolution will change this
Or maybe they should continue their raving for the good of the majority of Argentines; they are good people.
Will Argentina wake up in time?
Philippe
Given the history of this once great nation, probably not.
CFK is 58 years old and a multi-million USD millionare who knows better than anyone else what is shortly (2 years tops) going to happen to Argentina when the economy tanks (again), she is most likely going to run for her life to a safe haven.
But with her enormous ego and the fact that Fatboy has got to come from obscurity to take over the reins it might take another term of CFK for the dynasty to carry on.
www.clarin.com/politica/gobierno/Gobierno-destina-recursos-vigilar-medios_0_637136314.html
A better example of the fundamentally anti-democratic nature of the majority of the people here would be impossible to imagine.
Correspondingly, it also points to their childish dependency on Mommy.
This is a matriarchal culture folks, make no mistake about that.
Since freedom of speech still obtains in places like MeroPress, let me make a factual but anti-PC comment*.
The mother is the most important thing in a matriarchal culture, but the culture is not at all important for her. If left to the choice of accepting imperfection and admitting you're wrong as a means to learning, change and growth, or of pretending you are perfect and destroying everything around you, she, like virtually all Argentine women, would not hesitate to choose the latter.
The expression “Christina for life”, uttered mind you in 2012!, is symptomatic of a primitive, stubborn, psychotic desire to stay stuck in the mud.
“Christina for life” is one reason, among many, as to why I refer to the country as The World's Largest Children's Hospital for the Insane.
Like all psychotics they cannot differentiate between subjective experience and objective reality - which doesn't care what we believe in.
Not a few social commentators have described the epoch in which we live today as the beginning of a second Dark Ages.
I believe that the coronation of Obama in 2008 and the wish to make Christina a lifetime President are part of a growing trend among some global elitists to return to a mindless authoritarianism.
The West, and not just the West by the way, is so hopelessly dysfunctional that it is showing signs of being mal-adaptive.
That is the only bright spot in this grim picture, ie; mal-adaptive cultures eventually become extinct.
As soon as you make two mediocrities like BO and CFK “rulers” for life, you have signed the death certificate of the cultures under their control.
Fortunately, not everyone in Argentina or the US has lost their mind.
So there's hope.
It is not unusual to monitor the media but generally it is done without sending out the young pups to embarrass the government.
@11 An interesting idea. Certainly there is a plethora of mama's boys in SoAm that leave me cold. Who would want to engage with an infantile male? But I am not sure it entirely explains CFKC's position. Remember Nestor was supposed to take over the reins - not that he ever took his hands off them - until he dropped dead. But maybe there is something in what you say. A country of men with Perfect Son syndrome would explain the super-inflated egos coupled with the low self-esteem evident in the thin-skinned reactions to criticism.
Nothing has been confirmed yet, and I really hope it will stay that way.
Estos fans de Benny Hill apenas leen algo y ya le dan cn todo a AR
You say :
Benny Hill......
I say :
Peter Sellers ...!.....
You say Peter Sellers, I say Monty Python =)
Not everyone is going to accept this by the look of the young people posting. Please excuse my poor Espanol, but this is what just one poster said (I think):
We must be vigilant and watchful, were sorry that attentive. (it was an old joke about Peron in exile, when he suspected that some colleagues were spies). Not only journalists have the phones tapped, there are “agents militants,” bah, I call buttons, going through to chat on facebook to find things (you have to put in private). But this only demonstrates the weakness and fear of the truth by the government.
1984 all over again. Fat Boy's La Cámpora seems to be taking over an established government department and adding whatever THEY think is anti-CFK to control the media.
Fraser in Dad's Army had a phrase: We're doomed, ALL DOOMED! It was funny in that context but not here when talking of a 'democractic' country. Disgraceful.
She may or may not go for re-election.
Her loyal supports say,
Yes we want her
The world says
We hope not,
The British say
We are not bothered either way.
I say..
Whatever she decides, she will do ,
And that’s good for her, and bad for you . ?
.
Have you thought of doing an 'Ode to Argentina' book?
You do make me smile. :o)
They will crawl after her, I’ll walk and get her ,
Barbie doll or action man, to whom will they play,
For guns or the wishing wand, playing around all day,
For we are men of action despit their I’ll wishes
That’s why we are better, because we are British.
For anything is possible, even for teens
Who eat all their beans being smart,
But bloggers they are, their talking all night
But all they really do is ???t
.
Do I hear the presses printing Patacones already? I didn't think that would happen until June or later.
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